Schizophrenia. Journalism. But I repeat myself . . .

I've known for some time (as, I'm sure, have most of my readers) that the news media aren't exactly trustworthy when it comes to politics. Virtually every outlet is conveying the political views, biases and perspectives of their owners and/or managers and/or journalists, rather than the facts.

Sometimes this becomes blindingly obvious - for example, on CNN's Web site this morning. The network exhibited signs of journalistic schizophrenia as it tried to offset one bad poll for the President with another claiming that things weren't so bad for him after all.


Article 1 headline: "Obama's disapproval rating hits new high"

President Barack Obama's disapproval rating has reached a new high of 55% while the number of Americans who think he is a strong leader has dropped to a new low, 48%, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday.

. . .

... only 39% approve of how he is handling unemployment, and just 36% approve of the way he is handling the economy, not surprising when more than eight in 10 think the economy is in poor shape.

Article 2 headline: "CNN Poll: More Americans trust Obama on economy over Republicans in Congress"

President Obama’s disapproval ratings may be at an all-time high, but in a new CNN/ORC International poll, ... Americans say they trust him on economic matters more than they do Republicans in Congress.

. . .

“By a 43-35 percent margin, a plurality of Americans approve of the economic program Obama outlined in his speech to Congress last week, but more than one in five don’t have any view at all of the jobs bill,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

So CNN claims, with a straight face, that more Americans trust President Obama on the economy than they do Republicans, whilst simultaneously reporting that only about a third of Americans "approve of the way he is handling the economy".

Have the editors there never heard of the expression "damning with faint praise"?

Sheesh!

Peter