CNNMoney Caught Changing Report on ‘Green’ Jobs Numbers, Casting Them in More Positive Light

Posted on March 23, 2012 at 7:54pm by Becket Adams

THE BLAZE:

At 7:50 am Friday morning, CNNMoney reported on the embarrassingly small number of jobs the “green” energy industry has contributed to the nation’s workforce. The story was titled “‘Green’ jobs just a small portion of workforce.”

A simple Google search of the original headline turns up these results.

“As Kermit knows, it’s not easy being green,” the story began. “There were only 3.1 million green jobs in the U.S. in 2010.”

Translation: After receiving billions in federal subsidies ($100 billion from the stimulus program alone), “green” jobs account for only 2.4 percent of the nation’s employment. Seeing as how taxpayer dollars are being thrown at “green” energy projects under the guise of “stimulating the economy” and “creating jobs,” the “2.4 percent” figure is probably not the greatest. At least, that’s what the CNNMoney report seemed to indicate.

That is, until the story changed.

The Blaze noticed at about 4:30 p.m. the story’s headline and opening sentence had been changed to reflect the “green” jobs numbers in a more positive light.

A screen grab of the report as it originally appeared (via Rocket news) confirms the change:

But the headline has now been reworked so that it reads “‘Green’ jobs top 3 million” and the opening sentence is now the exact opposite of the sentiment conveyed in the original report.

“Kermit has more company lately,” CNNMoney reports. “There were 3.1 million green jobs in the U.S. in 2010.”

Wait a minute — we thought it wasn’t easy being green. Now the banjo-playing sock puppet has more company? What happened to that “only” sentiment?

Luckily, for CNNMoney’s sake, the rest of the report remains unchanged; the numbers stay the same. Still, why the sudden change of heart?

Did the site all of sudden decide 3.1 million was a pretty good number after all? The report’s author could not be reached for comment.

Although it’s difficult to make out, you can still read the original lede that says “As Kermit knows, it’s not easy being green.”

“The Bureau of Labor Statistics just released its first tally of jobs associated with producing green goods and services,” the story says (take these numbers with a grain of salt; the administration uses an extraordinarily loose definition for the term “green job“).

“The utilities industry — which includes nuclear and hydroelectric power generation — has the highest share of green jobs, at nearly 12 percent, while the construction industry comes in second at 6.8 percent. Some 5.3 percent of federal government jobs are green,” it adds.

In fact, as reported yesterday on The Blaze, the federal government has invested billions of taxpayer dollars in agency-related “green” energy initiatives.

Which brings us back to the original point: for the amount of money that has been poured into “green” energy, 2.4 percent of the nation’s workforce hardly seems like a fair return on investment.

At least, that’s what the data from both of CNNMoney’s reports would indicate.