Study: Media slacking on covering economy

NEW YORK - Media coverage of the economic downturn in the United States has lagged behind economic activity and public interest, according to a study being released today by a Washington, D.C.-based research group.

The Project for Excellence in Journalism analyzed more than 5,000 economic stories in 2007 and the first half of 2008.

The stories, by 48 news outlets, were delivered by cable news channels, network television, radio, newspapers and the Internet.

The study found that reliance on government data to track the economy is leading to scattershot coverage that, at times, lags months behind actual economic conditions.

"We can see little flashpoints in gas prices or a spike in joblessness but getting the whole picture is extremely difficult, in part because we're depending on government collected data, which could often be three months later," said Project Director Tom Rosenstiel.

The economy has been the number No. 2 story of 2008 so far - ahead of the Iraq war. But media coverage of the presidential race has outstripped economic coverage by a five-to-one margin.

There are no easy ways to wean journalists from depending on government statistics, Rosenstiel said.

"We need to create other listening posts than the Treasury Department and the Bureau of Labor Statistics," he said.

"Overall, this is a hard story for journalists to tell because it isn't an event, it isn't a person," Rosenstiel said. "And yet, where they can get a handle on it, it's a story that people are eager to hear," he added. *