Media Navel Gaze: January 13, 2014
The Week Unpeeled
The closely watched US jobs report because more closely watched and picked apart with sluggish numbers raising speculation and coverage of whether the tapering will taper. (Most say all still on track.) American businesses added only 74,000 jobs in December, a considerably slower pace than recent months and the overall unemployment rate fell to 6.7 percent from 7.0 percent, reflecting, unfortunately, job seekers saying uncle.
Elsewhere:
- The Dow ended little changed on Friday after the jobs report, closing at 16,437;
- The Polar Vortex paid an unwelcome visit to much of the country, no doubt putting a chill on some economic indicators for January;
- Bridgegate went from a local to national story as Governor Christie staged a two-hour TV apologia, fired staff members, distanced himself from advisors and all debated his fate as Republican presidential hopeful while copy editors made hay with "bridge of sighs" and "jam" jabs;
- Target revised stolen data numbers drastically higher, saying the breach could have affected more than 100 million customers, or approximately one-third of adult Americans, making this a serious assignment for the retailer in regaining trust;
- Alex Rodriguez was suspended from the Yankees for the 2014 year and playoffs for doping, which was followed (as pointed out "loudly" by The New York Times) with a one-sentence statement: "The New York Yankees respect Major League Baseball's Joint Drug and Treatment Program, the arbitration process, as well as the decision released today by the arbitration panel"; and
- Ariel Sharon, the former prime minister of Israel, died following an eight-year coma.
