Washington Post writer complains 'relentless' media unfair to Biden on economy, not selling good jobs numbers

Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan is criticizing the media over its coverage of the U.S. economy, arguing it's failing the American public when it comes to the "good news" about jobs numbers and wrong by driving people to believe the market is anything other than "great."

In a Sunday column, the left-wing writer blamed the "relentless" media for what she called Americans' "lack of knowledge" on the state of the economy, defended President Biden against negative coverage, and called on journalists to change their approach to covering the topic.

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"The unemployment rate is at an encouragingly low point. Less than 4 percent of the labor force is actively seeking work. And the latest monthly Labor Department report showed another healthy spike in the number of new jobs," Sullivan wrote. "But if you ask regular Americans about the jobs climate, a surprising number of them seem to think the opposite is true."

"This lack of knowledge matters. Political fortunes rise and fall in part on the health of the job market," she added. "So whose fault is it? Is it people who can’t be bothered to pay attention to the news, let alone the world around them? … Or does the blame fall squarely on the news media for not delivering the news in a way that everyone can easily absorb?"

Sullivan cited other liberal media critics in claiming Biden had received "pretty negative" news coverage throughout his time in office, and that it revolved around the media's "addiction to conflict" and "desire for a cohesive narrative," despite record-high inflation and gas prices.

"The public’s lack of knowledge on jobs ought to sound an alarm bell for journalists," Sullivan wrote. "If we’re putting information out there, truthfully and in real time, and people aren’t getting it, some significant share of the blame falls on us."

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She offered three suggestions she saw as solution to fix the "disconnect" between Americans and the economy, including calling on journalists to "find some balance" in their economic coverage, such as mentioning job growth and wage increases alongside inflation and the rising cost of goods. 

Sullivan didn't mention, however, that wage growth wasn't rising fast enough to keep up with the record high inflation, or that the vast majority of job growth was just bringing jobs back that were primarily lost during the coronavirus pandemic. 

She then suggested that the media examine its "knee-jerk media narrative," such as reporting that Biden's increasingly low approval rating was because of a bad economy.

"That framing has been relentless, and it is self-fulfilling. It’s all part of the horse-race coverage that journalists are addicted to, but that doesn’t serve the public," she wrote.

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Sullivan was previously the New York Times public editor.