The Ticker: Spin Zones & Economics

By Brian 

> CNBC’s 6 to 10am time period enjoyed a slight ratings boost when it revamped Squawk Box and introduced Squawk on the Street. In the key 25-54 demographic, Squawk Box from 6 to 9am improved 18 percent from 4th quarter levels thus far, according to the network. The 9am ‘Street’ improved 12 percent…

> CNN aired Jennifer Eccelston‘s exclusive interview with former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi on Your World Today…

> From an e-mailer: “Bad time for MSNBC around 10:10 this morning: one anchor read a story about the Red Cross from the teleprompter, then the other anchor read the same exact story. A few minutes later, “descend” was repeatedly spelled “decend” in the lower third…”

> Media Orchid’s 10 Worst Spins of 2005 calls Bill O’Reilly “Savior of Christmas and Low Gas Prices” and the Fox News PR department the “No-Tact Zone” (via Romenesko)

> CNN’s Alina Cho apparently never took economics, an e-mailer says. Find out why after the jump…




“Did anyone notice Alina Cho’s report running today on CNN? Cho relates in her story that following the massive destruction of homes in New Orleans due to Katrina, that housing supply is low, and that demand for housing is high. Economics 101 would suggest that low supply coupled with high demand means higher prices. I guess Cho never took economics. Instead, Cho asked leading questions of unfortunate potential tenants looking for apartments to rent, asking one such person a leading, biased question “so this sounds like price gouging, right?” which the apartment hunter was only to happy to agree with.

Then Cho adds more commentary to her report by saying, aghast, that when landlords raise the rental price of their properties, “this is all legal.” You mean it’s legal for market forces to determine prices? Is it only gouging when market forces push prices up, but not when prices are pushed down?

It’s no wonder CNN has such a small audience.”

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