What’s driving the recession coverage?

By Joe Nowlan -- Industrial Distribution, 4/3/2008 9:02:00 AM

Is there a recession going on right now?

Or does it depend on the industry you work in?

As the late Steve Allen used to say, “Well, yes and no—but I could be wrong.”

If there isn’t an actual recession in the United States at the moment, it’s safe to say the economy is at least going through challenging times.

But do we in the media, in effect, create a recession by covering these “challenging times?” Isn’t it news when a Bear Stearns needs a Federal bailout to survive? Or even when a comparatively small business cuts 10 percent of its workforce, for example?

Surely this is news and needs to be reported. But how best to cover such an event without making it sound like the sky is about to fall—or at least the area of the sky that hasn’t already fallen?

In an interview with INDUSTRIAL DISTRIBUTION, Home Depot Supply CEO Joe De Angelo discussed this “chicken and egg” topic of media coverage and the economy.

“The media, because of its power, will always be adding to people’s concerns,” DeAngelo said. “But I don’t think that today’s economic environment is one that I would understate. … But are [the media] creating the recession? No. There are underlying financial things going on in the world that none of us have ever seen. None of us have ever seen large investment banks writing off billions of dollars.”

Unfortunately, economic times are bad right now, at least in some niches and industries. And DeAngelo’s comments are valid—things are happening that haven’t been seen before, or certainly not in a long while. But it’s no reason to head for the nearest, highest bridge and take a swan dive.