Because when the president's approval rating goes up, even a bit like it just did in the new WSJ/NBC poll, it ruins the press' preferred narrative that the president is in free-fall. And how can you write free-falling reports when, oops, Americans give Obama slightly higher rating this month than they did last month?

Solution? Simple -- just ignore the good news and stress the bad stuff [emphasis added].

Behold:

As in recent polls, Americans are split on President Barack Obama's job performance, with 47% approving and 48% disapproving. But a majority disapproves of his performance on the economy. And six in 10, including 83% of independents and a quarter of Democrats, say they are only somewhat or not at all confident that Mr. Obama has the right policies to improve it.

Love the “but” part.

Obama's job approval is up this month. But the WSJ decided not to say so.