'OBJECTIVELY VERIFIABLE TRUTH NOW SUSPECT' REPORT ON MOUNTING CENSORSHIP, DENIAL OF FILMS TO U.S. AUDIENCE SUGGESTS NEWS MEDIA NOW TREAT FACT ITSELF AS INHERENTLY BIASED 9 October 2006 1. The problem as such Guardian quote-based reporting "won the war against reality a long time ago in the United States — and reality may no longer be in any condition to stage a comeback". 2. The Fallujah story In November 2004, CNN aired a colorful, spliced array of video from the 'Battle for Falluja', where in place of desperate screams and rapid automatic fire, viewers heard military theme music... 3. Politkovskaya: a crisis situation In Russia, on Saturday, the nation's most acclaimed investigative journalist, and Putin's most vocal critic, was shot dead in apparent contract killing...

ECONOMY STRONG OR REPORTING WEAK?
IHT STORY SUGGESTS US ECONOMIC GROWTH SAVING WORLD MARKETS FROM TAILSPIN
29 July 2007

:: Joseph Robertson

I was amazed to see an article entitled "Strong U.S. economy helps slow drop in world markets", knowing that the dollar is falling, people are struggling to make ends meet, we're constantly hearing about bankruptcies on the rise, and the housing market is, well, in free-fall, with major lenders under investigation for lending-to-loot. The story was based on figures reported by the US Commerce Department, which had just reported (Friday) that the "US economy" (ostensibly, GDP) had grown by 3.4 % in the 2nd quarter of 2007, even as world markets looked down a steep slope due to fears of a global credit crisis.

I had just spoken to a friend whose husband and father work in real estate, who complained of the poor state of things, and the impossibility of selling anything that had increased in value in recent years. Just after seeing the story, I spoke to a financial professional who expressed surprise, telling me his assessment was that GDP could not have been far above 1.5 %, if taken as an annual measure. We discussed the tendency of federal agencies, over the past several years, to issue such reports, then some weeks later to (much less visibly) publish "revisions", normally cutting positive figures in half.

Could it be that the "US economy" (again, ostensibly Gross Domestic Product, a measure of overall spending) is actually not doing well, or is slow, as expected, and that the Commerce Department is reading the wrong evidence to the public for some reason? The financial professional told me his opinion is that world markets generally, and the US economy as a result, or as tied to financial considerations, are "heading for a correction". That much, in his assessment, is evident, and appears necessary as a result of existing economic conditions.

It is also possible to say that this is not necessarily an unhealthy thing. A "correction", while financial panic or consumer reticence can have broad negative effects, is a part of a normal economic cycle, and brings values back in line with spending potential, thus prefacing a period of increased spending and economic growth. There are explanations for what occurs within an economic zone of one size or another ("market", "region" or "nation"), but false assessments bury those explanations under sometimes very fertile ground. Meaning: the truth may be hard to get at, while the misperceptions flourish.

For instance: when prices rise, there is a cause, and there will be repercussions, and this can lead to inflated pricing, which drives up costs of living and means salaries must increase. The proprietor of a local pizzeria gives me regular reports on the price of cheese. Mozzarella is twice what it was two months ago. Mozzarella has not come down. Parmesan is getting to be too expensive. Have dairy subsidies changed so radically? No, the US is constantly cited by the WTO for not reducing farm subsidies. But transport costs are skyrocketing, because crude oil is valued at nearly four times what it was 7 years ago.

Naturally, we can say people who buy the same amount of gasoline are spending 3 times what they spent in 2001, so that element of GDP is "growing", but it doesn't in any way signal real economic "strength"; it shows us nothing that could demonstrate in any concrete way resilience, elasticity, or wealth. All we see is spending. This is not to say GDP is not useful, but if we look only at that, and even that cannot be accurately reported, then we have a real problem with the focal capacity of the lens we are using to see our situation.

So, it would seem like everyone is in need of a "reality check", in the sense that Commerce may need to reform its reporting practices, the political sphere may need to be less terrified of economic downturns (the US has a history of links between economic failing and political unpopularity), and it may just be that people would be more at ease if they understood that the economics of the moment is part of a process, that things may improve. This is hard to sense when the reports say that everything is wonderful, when in fact, it seems to be otherwise.

And, there are a lot of bits of information one needs to know, just to be able to make sense of whether or not an apparent "jump" in economic growth is a sign of economic health. For instance, a reduction in the trade deficit, meaning exports weighing more against imports, accounts for an important part of the increase, as well as defense spending (Iraq war major factor) contributing as much as 0.5 % of the 3.4 % increase... this should not be considered a lasting new area of spending, nor is it healthy for the normal functioning of the economy that it continue to be a main factor in overall GDP growth.

Where it is clear that what may be creating temporarily interesting numbers may in fact be a sign of events not in the best interests of long-term economic stability or expansion, it is necessary to be able to distinguish between the positive and negative aspects of the story. Where it is possible to show that there are major contributing factors that dampen what on the surface could be considered advances or signs of good health, it is necessary to publish that information as well.

We may be facing a moment, as the globalized economy takes root, where it is more necessary than ever to examine the manner in which financial reporting filters out into the popular media, and to take steps to ensure that reporting is done from a responsibly journalistic frame of mind, and not from an ideological or purse-driven perpsective. [s]

• IHT: "Strong U.S. economy helps slow drop in world markets"
• RTT News: "US Economist Joel Naroff Examines US GDP Q2 Data"

CBS NEWS REPORT DISTORTS POLL RESULTS, SAYS BUSH "LIKELY NOT" OBLIGED TO FOLLOW LAW
29 January 2006

In a report from the White House regarding the president's response to criticism from the public, from Congress and from legal and national security experts that his warrantless wiretaps are illegal, CBS White House correspondent John Roberts falsely cites a recent poll to claim Bush has broad support from the public for warrantless wiretaps. [Full Story]

MILITARY COUP PRESENTED AS GOOD CITIZENSHIP
A LOOK BACK AT REPORTING OF THE APRIL 2002 COUP IN VENEZUELA
23 November 2003

When President Hugo Chavez was forced from power and sequestered by a faction of the Venezuelan military, The New York Times reported the matter as a decision by the President to resign. The "resignation" was welcomed as a sign that democracy was moving forward in Venezuela, and that its economy would no longer be threatened by a crouching dictator-in-wait.

The fact that an elected official who had reportedly voluntarily turned over power was in the armed custody of coup leaders went unreported. In an editorial, they lauded the immediate military appointment of an oil chief, a political arch-rival, to replace Chavez, saying the president had "handed power to a respected business leader." [Full Story]