HMM: Poll: 77% of Americans Blame Media for Making Economic Crisis Worse. Talk in the article of criminal liability for the press seems rather farfetched, and it’s not as if there are no real economic problems — but if we’re in a “panic” then the tone of press coverage certainly could be expected to make a difference, and the press doesn’t seem to be trying to moderate its tone, something it does in other areas. After all, the press is exquisitely sensitive to the impact of its reporting when matters of race, gender, or sexual preference are concerned. But hey, go-go reporting a few years ago probably pushed the bubble up, too, so it evens out . . .

Meanwhile, Michael Silence comments: It would be 100 percent if they all watched NBC News. “Screw the economy. It’s all about ratings.”

UPDATE: Hmm: “Compare the last 6 years (or so) of unremitting (and largely unwarranted- until recently) doom-and-gloom economic coverage, against the press’ bend-over-backward efforts to avoid riling the American public after 9/11.” Like I say, they know how to be exquisitely sensitive, when they’re protecting something they care about.