Non-Linguistic Inflation Framing in the Wall Street Journal
January 12, 2024·17 comments·Money
The Wall Street Journal uses identical inflation data to tell opposite stories, shifting which metrics are highlighted depending on whether the desired narrative is alarm or reassurance. The same dataset becomes a warning or a comfort based on what Wall Street and Washington need to be true. The charts themselves have become a tool for narrative construction rather than data revelation.
• Core CPI simply vanishes and reappears depending on the story. In summer 2022, when the narrative required alarm about inflation, core CPI wasn't shown in standard release graphics at all. Once the story shifted to "inflation is cooling," core CPI suddenly became the bright red centerpiece of the same article format.
• The same "important metric" argument is used to hide and reveal the same data. Financial media now insists core CPI is what matters most to the Fed and investors. Yet this metric was conveniently absent from their own graphics when it contradicted their preferred story just months earlier.
• Visual framing isn't accidental or neutral. The progression from beige lines to bright red, from visible to faded, from prominent to dotted: these choices mirror exactly when the narrative priorities changed, not when the data changed.
• This works because most readers see the picture, not the dataset. A chart is absorbed faster than numbers. The eye goes to bright red. The eye misses faint dotted lines. The narrative becomes reality through visual hierarchy before a reader processes the actual values.
• The mechanism reveals something deeper about how narratives function in markets. It's not outright deception but selective emphasis deployed for specific stakeholder interests. Wall Street wants cheap money. Washington wants election confidence. The charts serve both.
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Comments
Being a westerner, I am quite partial to suggestive images of the Dollar wearing sexy lingerie.
Is that wrong?
As for the Pound, well all I can say is despite the dowdy appearance and the occasional headache, its a goer.
Compelling analysis Ben that proves your point even more emphatically than the word-based analyses. A picture is worth a thousand words. I would guess that more automated approaches to image analysis are now within reach of ET.
I believe ”July 2022” is a typo here, should instead be “July 2023.” I point it out only because it confused me in the context of the various examples and timeline.
Totally agree, and might I suggest another medium worthy of exploration: intonations of the human voice, AKA audio.
Thank you! Got it right in caption and wrong in the text. Appreciate the correction!
As a daily WSJ reader, I have been sensing a distinct ‘Pollyannish’ editorial bias in the graphic displays. However, I did not take the next step the compare the tabular data to the graphics. Thanks for the insightful analysis. Is the WSJ a prominent member of the ‘Wall Street Cheer-leading Team’? Do they want eye balls on screen? Do they know how to use fear & greed?
Its all over the place. Headlines, ledes, contents. Same with Bloomberg.
The finance industry needs interest rates to come down and no inflation and the main cheerleaders in the MSM are there to help them out, as always.
It strikes me that the most telling part of the article is that a subway token is up to $2.90! talk about paying more for worse service. I would expect hedonics there to be out of sight.
But thank you for highlighting the ongoing BS that passes for news reporting.
What is this token thing that you speak of?
Speaking of which, my wife informed me that my Metrocard will soon be a museum piece.
I remember the Y tokens from going to visit my Dad’s office in the city in the early 70s.
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