By Sean Long, Apr. 3, 2014, Newsbusters.org
There is a jobs crisis in the U.S. that is going
virtually unnoticed by the broadcast networks. The unemployment rate for
African Americans towers over the national average, upsetting conservatives and
liberals.
In spite of bipartisan outrage, the three
broadcast networks gave just 10 seconds combined to the black unemployment rate
around the monthly jobs reports in the past year. Liberal Rev. Jesse Jackson
was one of many frustrated people. He has complained that “the media [is]
dismissing it as not important.”
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data revealed a
severe jobs crisis for African-Americans even in recent months. While the
national unemployment rate for all races was 6.7 percent in February 2014, the
black unemployment rate was almost twice that at 12 percent. There is little
doubt that the March jobs report which will be released April 4 will continue
to show a devastating gap between the two rates.
The Media Research Center’s Business and Media
Institute looked at broadcast network news coverage during the week surrounding
the monthly release of jobs data going back for a year. BMI found that the
subject of high black unemployment was completely ignored by 98 percent of jobs
stories.
Of the 145 jobs-related stories during those
weeks, the networks only mentioned the disproportionately high black
unemployment rate in two stories. Both were on NBC and spent a combined total
of 10 seconds on the “discouraging” black unemployment rate in reports about
the overall jobs situation. ABC and CBS completely ignored black unemployment
during this period, although they aired 100 stories about jobs.
Read the full story: www.newsbusters.org
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