Will The Media Finally Focus On Economic Growth?

ALBERT KLEINE/Media Matters for America

In light of news that the economy declined in the fourth quarter of 2012, media outlets have a responsibility to refocus their coverage of the economy, which has largely ignored the issue of economic growth and instead highlighted secondary concerns.

A January 30 report by the Bureau of Economic Analysis highlighted a grim reality - in the fourth quarter of 2012, the economy contracted by 0.1 percent. Media outlets have been rightfully promoting the figure,  which is in stark contrast to their recent approach in covering the problem of stagnant economic growth. 

A Media Matters report analyzing television news coverage of the debt ceiling found that the topic of economic growth was largely absent from discussions. In fact, of the 273 segments analyzed, only 33 even mentioned that growth should be a priority of any fiscal policy.

Economists, however, have strongly promoted growth as a means of reducing the deficit. Throughout the debt ceiling debate, many attempted to argue that economic expansion was far more important than worrying about short-term deficit reduction. Since the media ignored the topic of growth and rarely hosted economists as part of discussions, their voices went largely unheard.

In light of this economic contraction, economists are taking the opportunity to re-inject growth and jobs back into public debate. The Economic Policy Institute released the following statement:

The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported today that the U.S. economy contracted at a 0.1 percent annualized rate in the last quarter of 2012. While this quarter's contraction likely does not signal a return to recession (it was driven by decelerating inventory investments and a very large reduction in defense spending, which are not likely to be repeated in coming quarters), the economy had grown at an average rate of just 2.1 percent for the first three quarters of 2012, which is not fast enough to lead to rapid improvements in the nation's job situation. Today's data emphasizes the need to reorient the policy debate back to growth and jobs and away from rapid fiscal contraction.

Economists have long realized that growth is far more important than what the media has been focusing on, namely deficit and debt reduction. With this clear indication that economic growth is in fact a pressing concern, will the media shift its focus to acknowledge this reality?

Support for Obama grows

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Fox News Ratings Hit 12-Year Demo Lows In January Cable News Figures

By Katherine Fung and Jack Mirkinson/Huffington Post

At the end of each month, cable news ratings are released to the public. And, like clockwork, Fox News dominates the top 13 or so programs, far outstripping its competitors.

January was ... a little different. To be sure, everything is relative in cable news: Fox News still had nine out of the top 10 programs. It has spent 11 consecutive years as the top-rated cable news channel. Its 6 a.m. show drew almost double the ratings of CNN's top-ranking prime time show.

But, as rival MSNBC was quick to point out, and BuzzFeed was quick to trumpet, Fox News had its worst prime time ratings in the coveted 25-54 demographic since August 2001, and its lowest total day ratings since June 2008.

To a seasoned watcher of cable news ratings, there were other surprises. Rachel Maddow, for instance, came in 10th, beating "Studio B" and the 11 p.m. repeat of "The O'Reilly Factor." In January 2012, she came in 14th. It may not seem like much, but the top of the cable news field has been extremely stable -- and if Maddow were to continue creeping up the list, it would mean a real sea change. Overall, MSNBC -- perhaps powered by liberal euphoria over President Barack Obama's inauguration -- was the only cable news channel to grow its ratings from 2012.

This continues a pattern that emerged in 2012: Fox News viewers tuned out en masse from Democratic-themed events, causing the network's ratings to plunge during the Democratic National Convention, the hours immediately following Obama's re-election, and the president's inauguration. MSNBC, meanwhile, benefited from the solidification of its Democratic-friendly lineup, and drew a lion's share of eager liberal viewers.

Over on CNN, "The Situation Room" led the pack, followed by "Piers Morgan Tonight" and Anderson Cooper's show.

Below, see the top 30 news programs of 2013.

ALSO ON HUFFPOST:

• 1. The O'Reilly Factor

  Fox News -- 2.861 million total viewers

• 2. The Five

  Fox News -- 2.025 million total viewers

• 3. Special Report with Bret Baier

  Fox News -- 1.871 million total viewers

• 4. Hannity

  Fox News -- 1.867 million total viewers

• 5. Fox Report with Shepard Smith

  Fox News -- 1.617 million total viewers

• 6. On the Record with Greta van Susteren

  Fox News -- 1.331 million total viewers

• 7. Your World with Neil Cavuto

  Fox News -- 1.304 million total viewers

• 8. America's Newsroom

  Fox News -- 1.303 million total viewers

• 9. America Live

  Fox News -- 1.169 million total viewers

• 10. The Rachel Maddow Show

  MSNBC -- 1.086 million total viewers

• 11. Studio B

  Fox News -- 1.078 million total viewers

• 12. Fox & Friends

  Fox News -- 1.077 million total viewers

• 13. O'Reilly Factor (11PM)

  Fox News -- 1.054 million total viewers

• 14. Happening Now

  Fox News -- 1.052 million total viewers

• 15. The Ed Show

  MSNBC -- 988,000 total viewers

• 16. Hardball with Chris Matthews

  MSNBC -- 907,000 total viewers

• 17. The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell

  MSNBC -- 888,000 total viewers

• 18. PoliticsNation

  MSNBC -- 819,000 total viewers

• 19. Martin Bashir

  MSNBC -- 702,000 total viewers

• 20. The Situation Room

  CNN -- 672,000 total viewers

• 21. Piers Morgan Tonight

  CNN -- 639,000 total viewers

• 22. Anderson Cooper 360 (10 p.m.)

  CNN -- 615,000 total viewers

• 23. Anderson Cooper 360 (8 p.m.)

  CNN -- 604,000 total viewers

• 24. Now With Alex Wagner

  MSNBC -- 514,000 total viewers

• 25. Andrea Mitchell Reports

  MSNBC -- 511,000 total viewers

• 26. Erin Burnett OutFront

  CNN -- 506,000 total viewers

• 27. Daily Rundown

  MSNBC -- 496,000 total viewers

• 28. Newsnation

  MSNBC -- 491,000 total viewers

• 29. CNN Newsroom

  CNN -- 491,000 total viewers

• 30. MSNBC Live

  MSNBC -- 487,000 total viewers

Sen. Durbin rips NRA chief: You completely missed basic point of background checks

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois on Wednesday slammed National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre for claiming background checks  wouldn’t reduce gun violence.

During a the Senate Judiciary Committee’s gun control hearing, LaPierre argued that closing the so-called gun show loophole would only harm innocent gun buyers. He claimed criminals would be unaffected by the proposed policy because they would buy guns illegally.

“The criminals won’t go to purchase the guns, because there will be a background check, ” Durbin interjected. “We’ll stop them from the original purchase. You missed that point completely. I think it is basic.”

Durbin noted that Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old girl, was tragically gunned down on the South Side of Chicago on Tuesday. He pushed back against the notion that Chicago’s tough gun laws and high homicide rate were evidence that gun control was not effective. 

Durbin said the city of Chicago was “awash” in guns, where illegal firearms were confiscated at six times the rate of New York City. He noted that guns were flowing into Chicago from outside the city. More than half the guns used in crimes  have been traced to outside the state, particularly to Indiana and Mississippi.

“Why? Because the background checks  there, the gun dealers there are a lot easier than they are in other places. They end up selling these guns in volume, and they come up the interstate and kill wantonly on the way,” Durbin said, adding the issue of straw purchasers needed to be addressed. “I can point to one gun store — one gun store in Riverdale, Illinois — that accounts for more than 20 percent of the crime guns in Chicago. Straw purchasers buy the guns there and they end up in the hands of criminals in Chicago.”

Watch video, uploaded to YouTube by The Daily Kos, below:

– –

Sen. Alexander: Video games a bigger problem than guns

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee said Wednesday that violent video games were a bigger problem than guns in the United States.

When asked on MSNBC about proposals to reduce gun violence, such as requiring universal background checks, Alexander indicated that he was skeptical of the legislation.

“I’m going to wait and see on all of these bills,” he said. “I think video games is a bigger problem than guns, because video games affect people. But the First Amendment limits what we can do about video games,  and the Second Amendment to the Constitution limits what we can do about guns.”

National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre has also blamed violent video games — along with music and movies — for the gun violence in the United States.

“There exists in this country, sadly, a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and stows violence against its own people, through vicious, violent video games with names like ‘Bulletstorm,’ ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ ‘Mortal Kombat,’ and ‘Splatterhouse,’” LaPierre said after the tragic Newtown school shooting in December.

Watch video, courtesy of MSNBC, below:

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Outnumbered Michigan Democrats start longshot bid to repeal right-to-work laws in Legislature

By Tim Martin/M Live

LANSING, MI – In what likely will turn out to be a largely symbolic move, Michigan Democrats who are outnumbered in the Legislature say they are submitting bills that would repeal the state’s new right-to-work laws.

Chances of passage in the Legislature? Likely none, since it would require the blessing of Republican leadership that just endorsed right-to-work to get a hearing or a vote. But the bill introductions serve as a reminder that Democrats are starting the 2013-14 legislative session still upset about the right-to-work laws that were signed by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder late last year.

Michigan is becoming the nation’s 24th right-to-work state, with laws that prohibit requiring workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment.

Republicans hold a 26-11 edge over Democrats in the Senate with one vacancy. The GOP holds a 59-51 edge over Democrats in the House.

Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood, D-Taylor, announced Thursday that he has submitted for introduction bills that would repeal right-to-work laws. Democrats are upset that the right-to-work bills were approved last month without public hearings on the legislation.

“The people of Michigan were completely shut out of the legislative process with this regulation,” Hopgood said in a statement. “I will continue to stand with Michigan workers in the fight to repeal this misguided legislation.”

House Democrats are working on similar legislation.

Supporters and opponents of right-to-work disagree about where the majority of the public stands on the laws. They also disagree about its potential effects on the Michigan economy.

Hopgood said his legislation will be Senate Bills 95 and 96. The bills weren’t yet available on the Michigan Legislature website as of Thursday evening.

Lindsey Graham: GOP-Forced Budget Cuts Will Mean Fewer Cops, So People Need To Arm Themselves

By Josh Israel/Think Progress

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who has been among the Senate’s most vocal backers ofdraconian budget cuts and has opposed increasing funds to put more police officers on the streets, said Wednesday that he will oppose gun violence prevention legislation because budget cuts will mean inadequate police forces to protect the public.

Graham told Baltimore Chief of Police James Johnson and former naval Captain Mark Kelly (husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords) that he planned to oppose the gun violence measures because people will need high-capacity magazines to compensate for the police response times these austerity measures will force:

GRAHAM: The point is, we have different perspectives on this. The reason I will oppose the legislation, Chief Johnston, is because i respect what your do as a lot — what you do as a law-enforcement officer. Has your budget been cut?

JOHNSON: Yes.

GRAHAM: Do you think it be cut in the future?

JOHNSON: I am optimistic that it is not.

GRAHAM: Well I hope your right, but I can tell people throughout this land,because of the fiscal state of affairs we have, there will be less [SIC] police officers, not more, over the next decade. Response time are gonna be less, not more. So, Captain Kelly, I really do want to get guns out of the hands of the wrong people. I honest to god believe that if we arbitrarily “say nobody in this country can own a 10-round magazine in the future, the people who own them are the kind of people we’re trying to combat to begin with.” There can be a situation where a mother runs out of bullets because of something we do here.

Watch the video:

President Obama has proposed expanding the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), which helps local governments hire police officers, but Republicans have opposed the effort.

Senator Catches NRA Head In Epic Flip Flop

By Igor Volsky and Annie-Rose Strasser/Think Progress

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) caught National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre in a significant contradiction during Wednesday’s hearing on preventing gun violence. Since the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut the nation’s most influential gun lobby has opposed the growing bipartisan push for universal background checks, arguing that such a policy would infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law abiding Americans. But as Leahy pointed out, the group has supported the reasonable background checks in the past.

Under current law, gun purchasers buying firearms from federally licensed dealers are subject to background checks. As a result, more than 2 million applicants have been prohibited from purchasing guns. Unfortunately, 40 percent of firearm acquisitions are from individuals who are not licensed gun dealers and do not undergo any background checks. Gun safety advocates have sought to close the loophole for years and in the 1999, the NRA backed this effort.

“We think it is reasonable to provide mandatory, instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show,” LaPierre said during a hearing held on May 27, 1999, in the wake of the Columbine High School shooting. “No loopholes anywhere for anyone. That means closing the Hinckley loophole so the records of those adjudicated mentally ill are in the system.”

Leahy pressed LaPierre on why the organization has since changed its mind:

LEAHY: Do you still, as you did in 1999, still support mandatory background checks at gun shows? Yes or no?

LAPIERRE: We support the national check system on dealers. We were here when one of your colleagues held the hearings in terms of who would be a dealer and who would be required to have a license. If you did it for live the good and profit, yes. If you did it for a hobby, no. [...]

LEAHY: You do not support background checks in all instances at gun shows?

LAPIERRE: We do not, because the fact is, the law right now is a failure the way it is working. You have 76,000 people that have been denied under the present law. Only 44 were prosecuted. You are letting them go. They’re walking the street.

LEAHY: Back in 1999, you said no loopholes anywhere for anyone. But now you do not support a background checks for all buyers of firearms?

LAPIERRE: The system the way it is working now is a failure. This administration is not prosecuting the people they catch. 22 states are not even putting the mental records of those adjudicated incompetent into the system. If they try to buy a gun, even if you catch them, and they try to walk away, you let them. They are criminals, homicidal maniacs, can’t mentally ill — and mentally ill. We all know that, maniacs and the mentally insane do not abide by the law.

Watch it:

While NRA leadership opposes universal background checks, its members back the change. Anational survey conducted by Johns Hopkins University found that “89 percent of all respondents, and 75 percent of those identified as NRA members, support universal background checks for gun sales. Similar surveys by Pew Research Center and Gallup have also found background checks to be by far the most popular gun control proposal in the aftermath the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.”

UPDATE

Here is a copy of the ad the NRA took out in 1999 saying, “We think it’s reasonable to provide for instant checks at gun shows just like at gun stores and pawn shops.”

UPDATE

The NRA broke its commitment to support background checks for “every sale” andlobbied for a watered down provision in 1999.

5 Reasons To Be Optimistic The Republican Election-Rigging Plan Is Dead (And 3 Reasons It’s Not)

By Ian Millhiser/Think Progress

Two weeks ago, Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus called upon “states that have been consistently blue that are fully controlled red” to consider a Republican plan to rig future presidential races. Under the GOP plan, these blue states would stop awarding electoral votes to the winner of the state as a whole, and instead would award them one-by-one to the winner of each congressional district. Because these districts are highly gerrymandered to favor Republicans, the election-rigging plan ensures thatRepublicans will win the overwhelming majority of the electoral votes in these blue states regardless of how the people of those states cast their votes.

Six states potentially fit Priebus’ description of a blue state that is currently controlled by Republicans — Florida,  Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. To date, senior Republicans in four of these states have either voted down the plan or indicated that it will not be taken up in the first place, and the governor of a fifth state has expressed concerns about the plan:

• Florida: Florida is the least blue of the six states where the GOP plan could be enacted, so it is unsurprising that top Florida Republicans appear cold to the plan. Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford (R) compared the plan to rigging a football game, and state Senate President Don Gaetz (R) supports abolishing the Electoral College altogether.
• Virginia: Yesterday, a Virginia state senate committee voted to kill the election-rigging plan by an overwhelming 11-4 vote. Four Republicans opposed rigging the Electoral College.
• Ohio: Many of the most senior Republicans in Ohio, including Gov. John Kasich, state Senate President Keith Faber and House Speaker William G. Batchelder all said this week that they will not pursue the election-rigging plan, and Batchelder added that he “is not supportive of such a move.”
• Michigan: In an interview with Bloomberg yesterday, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) said that he is “very skeptical” of the election-rigging plan and would oppose taking it up at least until right before the next redistricting.
• Wisconsin: The election-rigging plan is decidedly not dead in Wisconsin, but Gov. Scott Walker (R) said earlier this week that he has “real concern” that it could diminish the relevance of Wisconsin in presidential races.

So the Republican Plan is officially dead in one state and lacks the support of essential lawmakers in three states. Of the two states where it is decidedly still alive — Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — the top Republican in one of those states says he has concerns about the plan. Nevertheless, supporters of democracy should not break out the champagne yet because there are three reasons to be frightened that the plan could reemerge.

The first is that the plan is still alive and well in Pennsylvania, which has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every single election for more than two decades. Both Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) and state Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R)support rigging the Electoral College.

The second is that a slightly modified verson of the plan could still reemerge in the states where it appears dead. Indeed, Pileggi already proposed modifying the plan in Pennsylvania toallocate electoral votes proportionally according to the total popular vote in the state, rather than by congressional district. This version of the election-rigging plan would award less electoral votes to Republicans, because it does not take advantage of gerrymandering, but it would still put a rule in place only in blue states, while leaving red states like Texas free to give all their electoral votes to the Republican candidate.

The third reason to be concerned is that the mere fact that a Republican elected official says they are not interested in pursuing a partisan power grab today does not mean that they will not back it tomorrow. Gov. Snyder swore up and down that he was not interested in pursuing a so-called “right to work” law in Michigan, only to sign this anti-labor law into effect late last year. So there is always a danger that Republicans could rapidly flip-flop on election-rigging if it looks likely a Democrat will win the White House again in 2016.

So the GOP election-rigging plan could, to borrow from Justice Scalia, still emerge “like some ghoul in a late-night horror movie that repeatedly sits up in its grave and shuffles abroad, after being repeatedly killed and buried.” For the moment, however, this ghoul appears far less likely to devour American democracy than it did two weeks ago.

Under Scrutiny, Fox And Limbaugh Reassert Role Advising GOP

ZACHARY PLEAT/Media Matters For America

Under criticism for discouraging Republicans from cooperating with Democrats to pass legislation, Fox News and Rush Limbaugh are telling Republicans how to move on comprehensive immigration reform.

President Obama told The New Republic that it would be easier to work with Republicans to pass legislation "[i]f a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News or by Rush Limbaugh for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest." Fox and Limbaugh lashed out at Obama in response to his comments on Monday, but on Monday night, Fox host Sean Hannity advised Republican lawmakers to "proceed with caution" on immigration reform. During the segment, Republican Senator Marco Rubio said that Hannity gave "good advice."

While Fox was dispensing advice to the GOP, Limbaugh declared that "it's up to me" to stop comprehensive immigration reform because he doesn't think Fox "is that invested in this." Rubio will be on Limbaugh's program on Tuesday to discuss the immigration reform that Limbaugh has pledged to halt.

As Fox and Limbaugh criticized Obama for highlighting their ability to sway Republican lawmakers, they proved him right with their comments about immigration reform. This is not the first example of their influence over the GOP - past media reports indicate Fox News and Limbaugh's influence on key Republican lawmakers crafting laws and negotiating bills with Democrats.

Positive Changes under Obama causing chaos for GOP

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Who is Ayn Rand's biggest fan?

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Obama Is Dismantling Reagan's Right-Wing Legacy

By Robert Reich/Alter Net

Soon after President Obama’s second inaugural address, John Boehner said [2] the White House would try “to annihilate the Republican Party” and “shove us into the dustbin of history.”

Actually, the GOP is doing a pretty good job annihilating itself. As Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal put it, Republicans need to “stop being the stupid party.”

The GOP crackup was probably inevitable.  Inconsistencies and tensions within the GOP have been growing for years – ever since Ronald Reagan put together the coalition that became the modern Republican Party.

All President Obama has done is finally found ways to exploit these inconsistencies.

Republican libertarians have never got along with social conservatives, who want to impose their own morality on everyone else.

Shrink-the-government fanatics in the GOP have never seen eye-to-eye with deficit hawks, who don’t mind raising taxes as long as the extra revenues help reduce the size of the deficit.

The GOP’s big business and Wall Street wing has never been comfortable with the nativists and racists in the Party who want to exclude immigrants and prevent minorities from getting ahead.

And right-wing populists have never got along with big business and Wall Street, which love government as long as it gives them subsidies, tax benefits, and bailouts.

Ronald Reagan papered over these differences with a happy anti-big-government nationalism.  His patriotic imagery inspired the nativists and social conservatives. He gave big business and Wall Street massive military spending. And his anti-government rhetoric delighted the Party’s libertarians and right-wing populists.

But Reagan’s coalition remained fragile. It depended fundamentally on creating a common enemy: communists and terrorists abroad, liberals and people of color at home.

On the surface Reagan’s GOP celebrated Norman Rockwell’s traditional, white middle-class, small-town America. Below the surface it stoked fires of fear and hate of “others” who threatened this idealized portrait.

In his first term Barack Obama seemed the perfect foil: A black man, a big- spending liberal, perhaps (they hissed) not even an American.

Republicans accused him of being insufficiently patriotic. Right-wing TV and radio snarled he secretly wanted to take over America, suspend our rights. Mitch McConnell declared that unseating him was his party’s first priority.

But it didn’t work. The 2012 Republican primaries exposed all the cracks and fissures in the GOP coalition.

The Party offered up a Star Wars barroom of oddball characters, each representing a different faction — Bachmann, Perry, Gingrich, Cain, Santorum. Each rose on the strength of supporters and then promptly fell when the rest of the Party got a good look.

Finally, desperately, the GOP turned to a chameleon — Mitt Romney — who appeared acceptable to every faction because he had no convictions of his own. But Romney couldn’t survive the general election because the public saw him for what he was: synthetic and inauthentic.

The 2012 election exposed something else about the GOP: it’s utter lack of touch with reality, its bizarre incapacity to see and understand what was happening in the country.  Think of Karl Rove’s delirium on Fox election night.

All of which has given Obama the perfect opening — perhaps the opening he’d been waiting for all along.

Obama’s focus in his second inaugural — and, by inference, in his second term — on equal opportunity is hardly a radical agenda. But it aggravates all the tensions inside the GOP. And it leaves the GOP without an overriding target to maintain its fragile coalition.

In hammering home the need for the rich to contribute a fair share in order to ensure equal opportunity, and for anyone in America — be they poor, black, gay, immigrant, women, or average working person — to be able to make the most of themselves, Obama advances the founding ideals of America in such way that the Republican Party is incapable of opposing yet also incapable of uniting behind.

History and demographics are on the side of the Democrats, but history and demography have been on the Democrats’ side for decades. What’s new is the Republican crackup — opening the way for a new Democratic coalition of socially-liberal young people, women, minorities, middle-class professionals, and what’s left of the anti-corporate working class.

If Obama remains as clear and combative as he has been since Election Day, his second term may be noted not only for its accomplishment but also for finally unraveling what Reagan put together. In other words, John Boehner’s fear may be well-founded.