Power Line: Press acts as watchdog for Republicans in power, lapdog for Democrats

Paul Mirengoff at Power Line offers an indictment of media reporting on the economy:

On Friday, the government announced the unemployment figures for May. The numbers were grim -- unemployment soared from 8.9 percent to 9.4 percent, the highest level since 1983.

On Saturday, the Washington Post ran two front-page stories about unemployment. One concerned the consequences of long-term unemployment on people's "lifestyles" (to use the term in the story's headline). The other was about how a spa offered free injections of Botox to 50 of its jobless clients.

The story about the May unemployment data appeared on page 9. It was previewed on page 1 with the teaser that said: "A smaller decline -- the pace of job losses slows in May, raising hopes for recovery." In short, good news.

Mirengoff does appear to have provided an example that shows the press uncharacteristically presenting bad economic news as a good sign. Yes, it is true that a lesser decline in employment counts as a type of good news. But overall, the news is still bad.

Can it be that, under the Obama administration, the press has realized its important role in building consumer confidence in order to boost the economy? That would be Hope 'n Change!

Research project: Check major U.S. dailies systematically to see how they report on changes in unemployment numbers.

Offhand, I can think of one legitimate journalistic reason why it would make sense for the press to emphasize the positive in a field of negative. The media emphasize the unusual. When economic data are bad over an extended period of time, the news emphasis may flip-flop to the opposite pole. Put another way, once it becomes commonplace for man to bit dog more than the reverse, dog bites man acquires news value.

Mirengoff's example fits with the plausible hypothesis that the liberal-dominated press wants Obama to succeed and is willing to help, at least subconsciously. And his might even be the best explanation of the facts. The case is short of airtight, however.