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Politics or statistics? There were two aspects of the recessionary economy that were covered by correspondents on all three networks. The Labor Department issued January job market statistics that showed 588,000 fewer people in work and an unemployment rate that jumped to 7.6%. In the Senate, three Republicans decided to side with Democrats when the fiscal stimulus bill was whittled down to $780bn, thus forming a filibusterproof majority. The negotiations over fiscal stimulus were the Story of the Day and the lead item on all three newscasts: ABC and NBC kicked off from Capitol Hill; CBS chose the White House.

Some Democrats in the Senate, ABC's Jonathan Karl pointed out, had threatened to vote against the stimulus legislation "if too much is taken out" so the spending cuts negotiated behind closed doors had to Goldilockslike: not too much to alienate Democrats; enough to attract a bare minimum of Republicans. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell pointed to "social programs like healthcare and education" as well as funds designated for the states to help close their deficits as the areas that took the $100bn hit. O'Donnell explained that Republicans wanted to spend money instead on programs that would "create new jobs." O'Donnell implied, although did not spell out, that economically speaking, creating "new jobs" is distinguishable from and preferable to preventing layoffs from existing ones.

The next step is to reach a compromise between the Senate and House versions of the legislation. "Nancy Pelosi and other liberal Democrats in the House do not like these cuts," CBS' Chip Reid reported from the White House. A pair of Sunday morning anchors put in their two cents' worth: George Stephanopoulos of ABC's This Week predicted that Congressional Democrats will eventually settle for any compromise that passes, even if it has less spending than they want. "The argument will come from the White House: 'The President must win this package. This is his first big fight. You cannot weaken him in his first days in office.'" On NBC, David Gregory of Meet the Press predicted the opposite. Barack Obama "will try to put the political pressure that he has with the mandate on these lawmakers to say: 'We have to act and we have got to go bigger than smaller.'"

ABC's White House correspondent Jake Tapper previewed President Obama's trip to Indiana and Florida to propagandize for the legislation and a follow-up primetime press conference. CBS' Reid noted that Elkhart and Fort Myers are cities "devastated by the economy." Elkhart has already been designated as the apotheosis of distress on the nightly newscasts (here, here and here). Reid traced its rise in unemployment from 4.7% as recently as December 2007 to 15.3% in December 2008.


Andrew Tyndall 2/9/09 9:46:16 pm

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