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Volatile trading on Wall Street is beginning to attract the attention of the network newscasts. Just three weeks ago--October 19th--the Dow Jones Industrial Average's drop of 366 points in a single day was not treated as the Story of the Day and only one newscast led with the selloff. Last week--November 1st--when the DJIA declined by 362 points, again, only one network led with market action but it was Story of the Day. Third time is a charm. Today's almost identical selloff of 361 points is both the Story of the Day and a unanimous choice for the lead on all three newscasts--CBS and NBC used a reported story, ABC an interview with an investment strategist.

"Grim numbers," declared Erin Burnett on NBC. Burnett is an anchor at NBC's sibling financial news network CNBC. She ticked off the reasons for "jagged nerves" on the Street: the falling dollar, the rising price of crude oil, a $39bn loss at General Motors, the troubled mortgage industry. CBS' Anthony Mason recited the same sorry litany and threw in a conflict-of-interest investigation by the State of New York into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-backed housing lenders. Mason, however, reminded us that this is no bear market: "In spite of everything that has happened the Dow is still up for the year and the NASDAQ is up comfortably." Mason's reminder made ABC's choice of an interview with a Standard & Poor's expert--rather than a dispassionate report from its own newsroom--seem strange. Salesman Sam Stovall touted Charles Gibson's viewers on "a perfect opportunity where you want to buy." He claimed stocks are at "low bargain basement prices." But how can they be cheap if they are more expensive than they were at the start of the year?

ABC did follow up with its own reporter covering the impact of rising crude oil prices on the economy at large. Chris Bury ticked off higher gasoline and home heating costs and "oil related businesses"--truckers, asphalt pavers, plastic makers--"feeling the pain and passing it on." Aviation fuel costs, for example, have hiked the price of a United Airlines ticket from Chicago to New York City from $318 in January to $448 today.

Andrew Tyndall 11/9/07 12:12:00 am

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