Top 10 Media Myths for 2008

I came across this article tonight. Here are some excerpts, very interesting...

The Media's Top 10 Worst Economic Myths of 2008
-BMI's collection of outrageous economic bias for the entire year: From the salmonella outbreak to the media's call for a new, New Deal. Each year the Business & Media Institute looks back on the year's news and selects the top 10 worst economic myths. Here is our 2008 list:

10. Capitalism is dead or dying.
Media myth: From Michael Moore to CNBC, people wondered about the end of free-market capitalism. -Is free-market capitalism really at death’s door? That’s what the media have claimed, beginning with Pulitzer-prize winning columnist Steven Pearlstein’s obituary for capitalism Aug. 1..... “Although Washington is using non-market solutions in an attempt to unfreeze the credit markets, they have not succeeded, and are unlikely to be permanent. The next administration, Republican or Democratic, might take over more of the economy,” Furchtgott-Roth said. “But if one country in our global economy proceeds down an unsuccessful socialist road, others will demonstrate the effectiveness of capitalist measures—just as America led the way with tax cuts in the 1980s.” ...

9. Gas at $4-a-gallon, blame the oil companies.

Media myth: Oil companies and CEOs were a favorite media target in 2008, but the monopolistic oil cartel that does manipulate oil prices was rarely scrutinized. -When gas hit 4 bucks a gallon, who got the blame? Not the oil cartels, that’s for sure.When oil prices climbed to more than $100 a barrel, journalists were looking for someone to blame for Americans’ “pain at the pump.” They called “Big Oil” companies “thieves” and accused them of reaping “excessive profits” driven by “greed.” But the networks ignored one of the leading causes of high gas prices – the hostile leaders of the world oil cartel – the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)....

8. Fannie’s failure
Media myth: When it came to the demise of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the network news never saw the trouble coming. -Print journalists had been warning of trouble at government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since 2002. But in 2008 ABC, CBS and NBC were clueless when it came to the extreme risk the duo presented to taxpayers....
(the media) neglected to mention the enterprises’ government mandate to increase home ownership and the implied taxpayer guarantee that enabled the two public companies to dominate the market. The media also underreported accounting scandals at Fannie Mae. In 2004, earnings restatements at Fannie Mae were $11 billion. That was 19 times bigger than Enron’s, yet Enron is the scandal everyone remembers. ... After Fannie and Freddie failed some in the media blamed free markets, but both Investor’s Business Daily and The Journal explained that it was socialism that created the problem: “We haven’t suddenly become socialists. What taxpayers need to understand is that Fannie and Freddie already practice socialism, albeit of the dishonest kind. Their profit is privatized but their risk is socialized,” said a July 12 Journal editorial.

7. Barack Obama sends stocks soaring, but not sinking.
Media myth: Journalists gave the new president-elect credit for an Election Day stock market rally, but when markets collapsed Obama got a pass. -As stocks rose on Election Day 2008, the media were more than happy to credit investors’ excitement over Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s chance of winning. But when stocks tanked in the days following Obama’s election, concern over Obama’s economic policies was the last possible culprit....

6. Alternative energy: All gain, no pain.

Media myth: According to journalists, the only way out of high gas prices and global warming are expensive, impractical “green” fuels. Rather than give an even-handed report on the oil supply situation, many journalists continued to push the “green” theme in 2008, calling alternative energies “a surefire way to cut fuel costs” and saying that a fuel other than gasoline would be “a welcome relief,” despite the trillions of dollars and number of years that may take....

5. The economy has a fever and the only prescription is more bailouts.
Media myth: From the economic stimulus early in 2008 to the call for a Big Three auto bailout in December the media couldn’t find a bailout it disliked. -Bear Stearns, AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. 2008 was the year of the government bailout and the news media supported such interventions time and time again....

4. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
Media myth: A salmonella scare frightened everyone and upset one CNN anchor so much that he called for the impeachment of President Bush – but it turned out peppers were the culprit. -CNN’s Lou Dobbs, host of “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” called for the impeachment of President George W. Bush on June 19, 2008 – but this wasn’t about the Iraq war or some sort of atrocity. It was over tomatoes.....

3. Oil prices will skyrocket to $200 a barrel, gas to $15.
Media myth: Journalists warned of super-high oil and gas prices, but then the bubble burst. =Journalists predicted skyrocketing oil prices in 2008 up to $400 a barrel. NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel warned on the July 1 “NBC Nightly News” an attack by Israel could send oil prices soaring – sending gas prices into territories never imagined....

2. Welcome to 1929: Great Depression II
Media myth: The news media drew hundreds of parallels to the Depression, despite economic data that is not even close. -According to network reports, America’s finances are “like a house of cards.” The media thought things were so bad that journalists on ABC, CBS and NBC hyped similarities to the Great Depression more than 70 times in the first six months of 2008. An additional tally found at least 157 more comparisons from July 1, 2008 to Oct. 27, 2008....

1. America needs a new, New Deal.
Media myth: Time magazine and other media outlets pushed the idea that Obama must be the next FDR, but they are misrepresenting the impact of the New Deal. -Imagine the classic image of FDR sitting in his car grinning, with a cigarette perched from his mouth. Now imagine it had the face and hands of president-elect Barack Obama instead of FDR. No, it wasn’t a dream – it was the cover of Time magazine on Nov. 24 which made it clear the media had crowned Obama the new FDR and wanted him to institute a new New Deal.....

to read more about each myth and see the video/news links click here - Business and Media Institute