Wednesday, April 06, 2022

Why Are People So Concerned About Inflation

One maddening thing (there are many, dear readers) about The News Business is the unwillingness of many journalists to ever acknowledge that coverage choices matter, which is simply another way of saying that what they do matters.

Of course in other contexts they express that what they do matters. It is, in fact, vital. But if you suggest that covering gas and milk prices constantly, often extremely deceptively, has an impact on what people think is important, they recoil in horror at the idea that they do anything but channel existing concerns.

Inventing a nightly TV news show to cover the Iranian hostage crisis probably had a wee impact on voter priorities in 1980. Ignoring the 135,000 or so that have died of Covid in the past 3 months or so has also had an impact (estimating 35,000+ full vaxed). Ignoring the climate crisis, also, too.