Business Coverage

Yesterday, CNBC's Krystina Gustafson opened her article about the state of the Christmas shopping season by reporting that "procrastinators around the U.S. provided a much-needed boost to retailers" last weekend, but that "the lift was likely too little too late to salvage a slow start to the holiday shopping season." The story's headline: "Retailers cut too deep to save the holiday season."…

The business press worships at the altar of seasonally adjusted data. Most journalists covering the economy don't even bother looking at raw, not seasonally adjusted data, which in layman's terms is best understood as "what actually happened." As I have shown for nearly a decade, this is often a big mistake. On the rare occasions when reporters take the initiative to look at the raw data, they…

Rosalind Brewer is CEO of Sam's Club, the wholesale division of Walmart. Sam's claims that it is "committed to being the most valued membership organization in the world." Brewer is apparently "committed" to a cause which has become quite a distraction from Sam's core commitment. Last week, she told CNN of a meeting she had with a supplier. Was she interested in getting the best prices and terms…

Objective journalism is so old-fashioned. Activism is the new objectivity, at least where the liberal media are concerned. Rather than reporting as neutral outsiders on matters of race, CNN hosts and guest actually put their hands up in the “Hands up, don’t shoot” pose that never happened while reporting on protests. They seize on mass shootings to repeat calls for stricter gun control. The sad…

What little remains of the economy's momentum appears to be riding on Christmas season consumer spending being perceived as strong. Unfortunately, it hasn't been. Following up on her early Friday excuse-making for why things haven't gone too well at the malls so far — it's because the weather has just been too darned nice — Anne D'Innocenzio at the Associated Press worked over the available…

They have an excuse for everything, don't they? This morning, Anne D'Innocenzio at the Associated Press actually told readers that this year's relatively warm Christmas season weather is what's hurting Christmas shopping season sales. It couldn't possibly be the "slowdown reality" USA Today cited in headlining Friday's second straight steep stock market drop, could it, Anne? Most other Americans…

For an understanding of just how weak the business press's understanding of economic fundamentals is, look no further than Paul Wiseman's brief "coverage" at the Associated Press Wednesday of the Federal Reserve's awful Industrial Production. The Fed reported yesterday that industrial production fell by 0.6 percent in November on top of a revised -0.4 percent (down from -0.2 percent) in October…

Reuters and reporter Lucia Mutikani went way overboard today in reacting to today's residential construction news from the Census Bureau. Mutikani's headline contended that today's "housing data signals economic strength," while a section title claimed that there are "strong housing fundamentals." That can only possibly be true if one believes the world began in 2007.

For a change, Martin Crutsinger's coverage at the Associated Press of the federal government's November Monthly Treasury Statement wasn't completely full of rose-colored baloney. Crutsinger managed to note how auto-pilot entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare are bankrupting the country (not in those words, of course). That said, he somehow thought that highlighting a rare and…

If you’re a regular reader, you may remember when Limitless featured a big-business CEO at a bioweapons firm who murdered an American general because he wanted to divert funds to other projects. Apparently CBS thinks all corporate deals involve capital crimes. Last night’s episode of Elementary, “The Games Underfoot,” brought a very similar plot to the Sherlock Holmes-inspired procedural.

On Thursday, NBC’s Today seized on a cabdriver in Toronto attacking the car of an Uber driver as a chance to attack the entrepreneurial car service, with co-host Savannah Guthrie proclaiming: “A cabbie confronts an Uber driver and gets dragged 60 feet down the street, as the battle between the car service app and traditional taxis gets ugly.”

Biofuels should serve as an instructive lesson for negotiators in Paris, because they are proof that not all energy sources work as well as anticipated. But journalists are unlikely to remind them or the public. The early 2000s were the heyday of good press for biofuels. Major newspapers like The New York Times ran stories about Willie Nelson’s biodiesel startup and individuals converting their…

The matter of renewable “energy” sources is certain to be part of Paris summit negotiations, since they are an essential part of the goal of lowering carbon emissions. Ahead of the Paris meeting, one British Labor Party politician argued for a “zero” emissions target, rather than already discussed severe 80-percent cuts. However, the proponents of such cuts rarely acknowledge they are an…

The climate conference in Paris hadn’t even begun, before climate alarmists were warning a far more stringent emissions agreement was necessary. British Labor Party politician Ed Milliband wrote for The Guardian on Nov. 22, that the Paris summit “can save the planet,” but not with the emissions pledges that are expected. Heralding the falling costs of solar and wind, Milliband claimed zero…