Topic: CNSNews.com
In reporting on the August employment numbers, CNSNews.com goes beyond pro-Trump rah-rah mode in promoting the figures that make President Trump look good to openly admitting that it's promoting President Trump and the Republicans' re-election agenda. Susan Jones does the dirty work in the main article hyping the best numbers and burying the bad ones:
The midterm election is about "safety and jobs," President Trump told a campaign rally in Montana Thursday night. He said the economy is "booming like never before," and on Friday, the unemployment report brought the president more good news: the unemployment rate for African Americans, 6.3 percent, is the second lowest on record (it was 5.9 percent in May); and job-growth remains strong.
For Hispanics, the unemployment rate increased two-tenths of a point from last month's record low of 4.5 percent. And the overall unemployment rate remained at a low 3.9 percent.
The number of jobs added -- 201,000 -- exceeded analysts' expectations. (After revisions, job gains have averaged 185,000 for each of the last three months.)
After three straight record-setting months, the number of employed Americans dropped by 423,000 in August, to 155,542,000 from last month's all-time high of 155,965,000. This number has set 11 records since Donald Trump took office.
Black unemployment usually gets its own sidebar rather than leading the main story. That's an indication of the cherry-picking CNS and Jones had to do to make sure the numbers didn't undermine the GOP re-election message.
Jones' story is currently topped with a correction that walks back CNS' overenthusiasm for all things Trump: "The original headline said that the African-American unemployment rate in August was the lowest ever; in fact, 6.3% is the second lowest rate on record for African-Americans."
In a sign that the numbers were not to the liking of CNS (and, thus, Trump), the only other article it did on the numbers is the usual piece by Terry Jeffrey on manufacturing jobs -- in which he had to admit that they had "decreased by 3,000 in August—after twelve straight months of manufacturing job increases."
So, sad trombone at CNS because it couldn't completely hide how its hero didn't make the numbers he needs to make CNS a successful pro-Trump propaganda operation.
