Government says, Media relays

One of the reasons for the problems in our democracy is the "Cheerleader Of Washington (the Government)" or COW role played by the Media. The recent manifestation of this behavior is in the reporting of the 'Employment Situation Summary' data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This BLS press release leads off with "Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend down in June (-62,000), while the unemployment rate held at 5.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Employment continued to fall in construction, manufacturing, and employment services, while health care and mining added jobs. Average hourly earnings rose by 6 cents, or 0.3 percent, over the month." Nowhere does the press release say these these numbers are not 'actual' numbers but are only ESTIMATES. In fact BLS used 177,000 in June (217000 in May) as the number of jobs ESTIMATED to be created using the Birth/Death Model. No one can verify the creation of these jobs. Without these phantom jobs, the number of jobs lost could have been much grimmer.

One can understand the government trying to spin its way out of bad news with obfuscation. Not one of the major media reports-including
New York Times: Outlook Darker as Jobs Are Lost,
BBC: US loses 62,000 jobs during June,
Wall Street Journal: Payrolls Shrank Again in June; Jobless Rate Steady at 5.5%,

and the others used the word 'estimated' in reporting the government released data. The media outlets report the government data as 'gospel.' The average reader or the viewer is left with the impression that 62,000 is the 'actual' number of jobs lost. The true number could be lower or higher, but it is the perception that counts.

This same behavior is displayed by the media in reporting other forms of data released by the government. As usual, a modified version of 'Caveat Emptor' applies- the Information Receiver should be Suspicious (IRS).