NBC Fuels Gas Price Hysteria
Network blames the president for high gas
prices and emphasizes government regulation and taxes over
free-market solutions.
Though oil prices have fallen about 20 percent
from their April peak, NBC hasnt let up in its scrutiny of the
gasoline industry. The network aired a series during the week of May
16, 2005, called Pain at the Pump, which included the usual
stories about people buying fewer SUVs and bemoaning gas prices
above $2 per gallon. But it shifted into high gear on the May 19,
2005, Nightly News when Campbell Brown did a segment about blaming
the president for high gas prices. .
Historically, it is the president who takes the blame
for high gas prices, Brown said. Rather than educating the public
about the real factors behind gas prices such as the way supply
and demand affects pricing NBC showed interviews with individuals
who pushed for government intervention, saying, Congress needs to
do something, and This could be something that they could help us
with here, right now. No free-market voices were included to tell
these consumers what it would mean for the government to step in and
regulate gas prices.
Instead, Brown continued the push for more government
involvement, saying Democrats have yet to offer up an alternative
solution to alleviate prices. Not until the end of the segment did
she acknowledge that the real problem is a tough one to fix.
Brown said one of the problems was few signs Americans
are really ready to cut back on gasoline consumption. Consumption
drives the economy and creates jobs, but when it came to gasoline,
the network obscured those facts. This story was only one of a trend
in recent network news. Numerous reports have focused on gas prices
and falsely characterized them as record highs, when in reality
prices have not approached inflation-adjusted record levels.
That exaggeration was repeated when Mantill Williams of
AAA stopped in on NBCs May 20, 2005, Today to give driving tips
and predicted that for Memorial Day weekend, drivers would see the
highest gas prices ever for any type of holiday. Today was
celebrating its Great American Gas Challenge, which sounded like
an extended commercial for hybrid cars. Three families drove
cross-country in different vehicles while the network paid for their
gas, and naturally, the family driving the Honda Civic Hybrid had
the cheapest trip. Katie Couric talked to each of the drivers,
asking opinions about the hybrid car and whether they would consider
buying one.
The show continued with a report that asked consumers
to consider what they would do if gas reached $5 per gallon. The
first interviewee they used to answer this question said, If I
could afford it, I would buy a hybrid car.
But it didnt stop there. New York Times columnist
Thomas Friedman made an appearance advocating higher taxes on
gasoline, saying that this would prompt consumers to buy more
hybrids. NBC reporter Carl Quintanilla said taxing fuel would
unfairly hurt those in rural areas and the poor, but did not
explore the broad economic impact that such a dramatic tax increase
would have. The only free-market voice was a vague quotation from
the American Petroleum Institute saying there was no justification
for an increased gas tax.
Quintanilla finished by announcing that more hybrid
cars are coming online and that Toyota plans to build more in the
United States next year. Katie Couric did mention the benefits of
SUV ownership, such as roominess, comfort and safety even though
the gas mileage was obviously a disadvantage. However, in both NBC
reports, no down side was mentioned to owning a hybrid, such as
software glitches that have caused stalling and shutdowns at highway
speeds. The Wall Street Journal and CNN.com have reported on
programming errors that forced a software upgrade for Toyota Prius
owners.
The CNN.com article is available
here:
