FOX's Special Report dedicates 20 seconds to poor job market numbers
Reported by Chrish - November 5, 2005
Fox's premier hard news program Special Report, guest hosted by Jim Angle yesterday 11/4/04, spent a mere twenty seconds disseminating the bad news about the job creation numbers for October. Even in that little bit of time, Angle managed to spin the dismal report with two positive "look on the bright side" comments.
The report in full:
"The economy seems to have weathered the hurricanes with minimal damage. The unemployment rate in October actually dipped a tenth of a percent to 5% as 56,000 new jobs were created. The Department of Labor also revised its figures for September saying only 8,000 jobs were lost instead of the 35,000 originally reported.
Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? What wasn't reported was that the projected job creation number for October was 100,000, and the downward revision of August's numbers, 63,000 from 211,000 to 148,000, was not noted at all.
Overall, according to ABC News,
"...the job market may have been weaker than previously thought before the hurricanes struck, said Christopher Piros, director of investment strategy for Prudential's Strategic Investment Research Group.
Piros also said that while payrolls have expanded by 48,000 from August to October, the growth came from a 52,000 rise in temporary employment and a 45,000 gain in construction jobs.
"Meanwhile, the rest of the economy has lost 49,000 jobs," Piros said. "That's not exactly a picture of strength." "
FOX of course wants to paint a rosier picture for the Bush administration as people are increasingly concerned about corruption and indictments, and the direction in which they have steered the country. The shortness of the report indicates to viewers that it is not important (like, say, Natalee Holloway) and they shouldn't concern themselves with such matters.
