The Public Editor: Bee's coverage of a weak economy is mostly strong

In the 1958 B-grade movie "The Blob," a tiny Jello-like alien life-form grows and grows, consuming human morsels like popcorn as actor Steve McQueen runs around rallying a skeptical small town populace to the menace.

In a way, that's how the story of the faltering economy has evolved, too: from an interesting but narrowly focused slowdown in the housing market two years ago to today's all-encompassing conundrum that has delivered the country to the brink of recession, if it isn't already in one.

Economic news once mainly confined to The Bee's Business section is now consistently on the front page, and often in both places. Wall Street's problem has walked over to Main Street.

As the story has grown to touch virtually all sectors of the economy, so too have the resources to cover it. Business section reporters covering impacts of the slowdown on private enterprise have been augmented by Metro and Capitol bureau reporters gauging the effects on government.

They are writing stories about cities and school districts cutting spending and laying off employees, and about the state of California facing a possible $20 billion budget shortfall.

Week by week and month by month, the story has built its own critical mass. There was the housing sales downturn and subprime mortgage problem, followed by record foreclosures and drops in home prices, and a credit crunch.

The Federal Reserve jumped in, cutting interest rates again and again; the stock market stalled, financial companies such as Bear Stearns went under and gas prices spiked to record levels.

Then food prices escalated, causing runs on staples such as rice in some neighborhoods. Advertising revenues declined along with consumer spending. Checks are in the mail from a deficit-riddled federal government that's nonetheless giving money back to taxpayers in hopes of enticing them to spend it. And on and on it goes, the bottom not yet in sight.

Readers, of course, have noticed, prompting many of them to comment on various aspects of The Bee's coverage and on specific stories. Mainly, though, they've asked for more information, perspective and local relevance.

Covering the story has been a challenge because its ever-expanding outlines only became apparent over time. Yet, in my opinion, the paper has done a good job of organizing itself to meet the challenge and in seeking out local impacts in great detail from the ground up.

For example, business reporter Jim Wasserman early on focused on troubles in residential real estate, reporting on the broader negative trends then only becoming apparent. His stories were filled not only with experts and brokers and real estate agents, but also with real people. Some told tales of woe about foreclosures, others were giddy over their first chance to own a home.

Business editor Cathie Anderson said after the downturn and its ramifications became clear, she and other senior editors discussed "where to go with the story and what elements we should be telling … How is this affecting us locally?"

Other reporters were gradually brought on board, before prices for gasoline and food began to soar.

Sacramento's place before and after the slowdown, Anderson said, gave the story a special resonance.

"We were the epicenter of the boom and now we're the epicenter of the bust," she said.

Business reporter Jim Downing, who has tracked impacts in the food sector, was the first to report about the run on rice by panicked shoppers in Sacramento's Asian markets, a trend later seen nationally. At the same time, he noted, local rice farmers are thriving.

Editor Melanie Sill said economic issues are now part of the storyline on almost every beat at the paper.

"There's an economic undertone to everything we're doing," she said.

It's important, Sill said, that The Bee's coverage explores how the stumbling economy is affecting people's lives in the region.

"It's more than writing reports about (economic) reports," she said. "We want to do a lot more of a multilevel approach."

Part of that is an emphasis on watchdog reporting that looks for fraud and abuse; another is holding government officials accountable for budget decisions or the lack thereof; yet another is looking at the interlocking elements of the global and local economy. One example: how demand in China is causing gasoline and some food prices here to rise.

"We want to help explain why things are happening as well as what's happening," Sill said.

While the overall coverage as been sound, the paper has made some mistakes along the way.

On April 15, for example, a wire story detailing food price increases nationally dominated the front page. It included pictures of white bread, coffee, eggs, tomatoes, ground chuck and chicken and their prices.

"The article and pictures illustrate the big risk in using wire service stories when local conditions are quite different," e-mailed reader Ted Gibson of Sacramento.

"For example, I defy you to find a one-pound loaf of bread in this city for anything like $1.32. The Sara Lee that is illustrated is sold here in 20-ounce loaves for $3.79 at Bel Air. Likewise, the cheapest tomatoes I can find are on sale for $2.49 (and Costco more like $3) per pound vs. $1.74 in the wire copy!

"Ground chuck? Cheapest ground beef at supermarkets around here is about $3.50, unless you are willing to buy 3 to 6 pounds at a time (national average $2.79).

"It would have been far more interesting if a reporter had spent an hour or two with the CPI list (it's only a few items) and actually visited Raley's, Safeway or SaveMart and reported on local food prices. The comparison would be a real eye opener.

"Then an inquiring mind might ask why food prices are 30-40 percent higher in Sacramento than the national average."

Gibson knows a little about economics. He was the state's chief economist from the mid-1990s until his retirement in 2001.

About the writer:

• The Public Editor deals with complaints and concerns about The Sacramento Bee's content. His opinions are his own. You can contact the Public Editor by mail at P.O. Box 15779, Sacramento, CA 95852; or by calling him directly at (916) 321-1250.