***To read the full blog, please check out the complete post on NewsBusters***
After finally discovering positive economic news on Thursday, ABC World News Tonight anchor David Muir intentionally deceived his audience about what the numbers showed in context. After making it seem as though massive unemployment was on the rise, he brought on congressional correspondent Mary Bruce to campaign for former Vice President Joe Biden’s recently released economic plan as the solution.
The two news items were definitely meant to be delivered as a packaged deal. In addition to their combined airtime lasting less than two minutes (1:50), this was how Muir pitched it:
Now, to the economy and American jobs tonight. 1.3 million American workers filed new unemployment claims last week. The 16th week in a row that that number has been above a million. 18 million Americans are now collecting benefits.
Of course, the coronavirus and how to revive the economy for all families afterward will be front and center this election, and today, former Vice President Joe Biden revealing his plan. Here's Mary Bruce.
But the truth of the matter was, those new unemployment claims were on the decline. Critical context Muir intentionally hid from viewers.
As Bloomberg reported on Thursday, “initial jobless claims fell by the most in a month.” Though, they tried to blunt the good news with negative speculation, Bloomberg did admit the drops were beating projections.
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