A recently released study by the Pew Research Center, Cornell University and Stanford University analyzed the media's economic coverage for the six-month period from February 1 through August 31 of this year. The study was done from an analysis of about 9,950 stories from television, radio, cable, newspapers and online.





























Here are the study's highlights:

• Three storylines dominated the coverage (see graph above): efforts to help revive the banking sector, the battle over the stimulus package and the struggles of the U.S. auto industry. Together they accounted for nearly 40% of the economic coverage over the six-month period. Other topics related to the crisis have been covered much less.
• Actions by government officials and business leaders drove much of the coverage. The White House and federal agencies alone initiated nearly a third (32%) of economic stories...Business triggered another 21%. 
• Fully 76% of the datelines on economic stories studied during the first five months of the Obama presidency were New York (44%) or metro Washington D.C. (32%). Only about one-fifth (21%) of the stories originated in any other city in the U.S., and about a quarter of those emanated from two other major media centers: Atlanta and Los Angeles. 
• Once the economic situation showed some signs of improvement-and the political fights over legislative action subsided-media coverage began to diminish. As is clearly shown in the graph below, the vast majority of the coverage (by more than a 20:1 margin) of this coverage was negative). After accounting for 46% of the overall news coverage in February and March, for instance, coverage of the economic crisis dropped by more than half (to 21% of the newshole studied) from April through June. And in July and August, it fell even further (to 16%). The clearest example came in cable news. Once the political battles subsided, coverage fell by about two-thirds from March to April.

 












This is a fascinating and revealing study. The stock market bottomed early in this period (March) and the economy began showing clear signs of a rebound later in this period - towards late summer. This is another clear example of the media falling all over itself to highlight and report negative news and then comparatively ignoring the good news when it happens.

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Eric Tyson is the only best-selling personal finance author who has an extensive background as an hourly-based financial advisor and who does not accept speaking fees, endorsement deals or fees of any type from companies in the financial services industry or product or service providers recommended in his articles, books and his publications.