Fox News Commits Malpractice with Orwellian Unemployment Statistics

Fox News has gone full-bore, balls-to-the-wall with its misrepresentation of unemployment statistics.

Fox News - Misleading unemployment statistics, to put it kindly

Talking Points Memo:

Simply put, Fox & Friends juxtaposed unemployment in January 2009 — calculated to measure the number of unemployed people actively looking for work — with a different measure of unemployment in August 2012, calculated to include disaffected and marginally attached workers.

A direct comparison is less misleading, but also less eye-popping.

The standard measure of unemployment (U-3) when Obama took office was 7.9 percent. Now it’s 8.1 percent.

The broader measure of unemployment (U-6) when Obama took office was 14.2 percent. Now it’s 14.7 percent.

/ TPM – Fox News Flubs Statistics To Make Obama’s Economic Record Look Horrible

This is malpractice. No, it’s Orwellian. And why show the unemployment rate for government workers? Are they trying to say that should be higher? But wait a second… How do you calculate government unemployment anyway? If you are unemployed that means you aren’t working, hence you aren’t a government worker. WTF?

And the entire premise is based on taking a snapshot of numbers in January 2009 compared to now which is bullshit to begin with. So no matter which way you slice it, these statistics are a big steaming pile. Fox News is certainly aware of this. They just hope their viewers are not.

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