The Formula For "Talking Up" A Recession

The economy we are facing today is uncertain at best. But if it were up to the media, we would be killing every other over a loaf of bread, and burning cars in the streets. I was watching Good Morning America that morning, and I caught Diane Sawyer grilling the Treasury Secretary about the Wisconsin Lemon Laws Recession. As he was talking about the economic down turn, she (at least 4 different times during a 90 second segment) tried to put words in his mouth, and consolidation loans force him to utter the word recession, no question in an try to collect the glorious sound bite of the Treasury Secretary using "that word".

She kept asking him, "Don't you feel like it is a recession?" And his response was repeatedly "Diane, we are definitely in an economic down turn, but I think the label we place on it is less important than what we actually do about it". He is not the most eloquent speaker, but his point was valid. It is valid because we are not actually in a recession.

Recession is not a feeling; it is an actual economic event with a clear definition. A recession is defined joint life insurance 2 consecutive fiscal quarters of negative economic growth. That's what a recession is. The technicalities of that may seem mundane, but the way that the average American reacts to the word is accident compensation claim clearly undersas welld by the media, hence the Purpose they are trying to pry it out of high ranking officials for the sound bite that injury compensation claim be played over and over once more.

Now, I am neither blind nor ignorant about the current state of the economy. But, trying to portray it as worse than it is does not assist anyone. If anything it makes persons clutch onto their wallets more and become a self fulfilling prophecy.

investment is competitive, and the journalism investment is no different. But if your very job is to report the news and you devote your time to spinning it into different information simply for the purpose of ratings, then you are not only performing a disservice, but it borders on malpractice.

I comprehend that Good Morning America is 5 minutes of quasi news followed by 30 minutes of cooking advice and actors promoting their latest conquest, but come on! persons wake up to that stuff. Perhaps if you looked for the good in a situation, more persons would watch.

Oh well, just a thought.

Steve Russell is the Co-Founder of REO In Motion, LLC. (a Florida based internet marketing firm), and a contributing editor for www.PreForeclosureFSBO.comwww.PreForeclosureFSBO.com His background consists of 11 years in the retail and wholesale mortgage industry.