MSNBC trying hard to reverse “waning” public opinion about the stimulus bill
June 23rd, 2009 by Rightwing Czar at 4:22 pmWhen I go to read an article, whether in print or online, my usual expectation is that the pictures and captions will somehow illustrate a piece of the story. That seems pretty typical, right? Well, not when you’re MSNBC and you’ve (probably reluctantly) published a story about your dearest president losing support for his stimulus bill.
Here’s a picture I took of the MSNBC website when I went to read the story. You need to see how the page displayed on my browser to get the full effect.
Click to enlarge
Notice a couple things right off the bat. First, the caption of the picture:
Ryan Stewart, 17, signed up for a summer job with the Mile High Youth Corps after failing to find part-time work at fast-food restaurants. He’s one of thousands of young people working government jobs this summer paid for by the federal economic stimulus package.
How does this picture/caption fit with MSNBC’s story? The report is about how public support for the stimulus bill is decreasing, and MSNBC chooses a picture about a guy who got summer work because of the stimulus funds.
Even worse (and the reason you need to enlarge the picture to really see it) is how the picture is placed. I have to scroll down to read the story, but the picture about the guy who loves the stimulus bill is right at the top. This means that before you see even a word of the actual story, MSNBC wants to let you know how awesome the stimulus bill is because this high school student got a summer job.
This is nonsense but typical MSNBC garbage. I guess we should give them kudos but reporting the facts about public support dropping off for Obama’s gazillion dollar pork project, but come on – this is ridiculous.