News report writers prefer to report bad news if it can contribute to two outcomes: (1) make people anxious so they desire to read more and buy more newspapers or watch more TV, (2) cause a bad impression on a candidate or administration whom the writer opposes.
But what happens if the news is actually good?
Not a problem. There is always a way to turn it into a "bad news" story. Here is a short little exposé catching the Associated Press doing the very thing:
"Despite the current credit crisis, consumer confidence actually ticked up in September. The Conference Board announced Tuesday the consumer confidence index jumped from 58.5 percent in August to 59.8 percent last month. That is higher than economic analysts had predicted.
This is how the Associated Press reported the news: "With the holiday shopping season about to start, consumer confidence is hovering near the lowest it's been since President Bush's father was commander in chief."
Not until the end of the second paragraph does the AP acknowledge that consumer confidence was up. And it took 10 paragraphs to note the expectations index, which measures consumer outlook for the next six months, also increased."
- Brit Hume, Special Report, Fox News, October 1, 2008
Notice the AP's subtle double attack on Bush, Republicans in general, and therefore McCain: 1. emphasizing low consumer confidence 2. singling out "President Bush's father". This added comment again works to Obama's favor when it is not really relevant. If they wanted a bad economy to compare too, they could have picked part of Clinton's term, or even Jimmy Carter. But both of those were Democrats, with whom they did not want to cause anyone to have a negative association with a bad economy.
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