Never Mind.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)

Media Bias: Just last week we cited a news story suggesting that the mainstream media had gotten it at last on the economy. We should have knocked on wood.

The story was from The Associated Press and noted that the 8.2% growth in the third quarter was "propelled by tax cuts" and low interest rates. To us, this acknowledgment that the Bush tax cuts helped turn the economy was a small step for journalism, but a giant leap for conventional wisdom.

It also signaled the media maybe would stop wasting time looking for a dark cloud inside the silver lining of every economic indicator that's released -- and perhaps would stop carrying water for the one party that might gain from an economy widely portrayed as poor.

It wasn't three days later, however, that our hopes were dashed. "Jobless Count Skips Millions," read the front page headline of the Los Angeles Times. Subhead: "The rate hits 9.7% when the underemployed and those who have quit working are added."

How's that for spin?

Here we thought that unemployment was 5.9% and falling (as the latest plunge ...