A brief report on the economy gave ABC News all the window or need to continue to spook the general public over the idea of potential economic hardship should Operation Epic Fury extend beyond a short window of time. Anyone watching this report was subject to gaslighting in service of narrative-driven fearmongering.
Watch the report in its entirety, as aired on ABC’s World News Tonight on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026:
WATCH: @ABCWorldNews fearmongers the American public over the events unfolding in Iran pic.twitter.com/SKezE4eeGD
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) March 4, 2026
DAVID MUIR: Amid this war with Iran, the Strait of Hormuz essentially shut down where 20% of the world’s oil passes through. Tonight the stock market plunging, oil and gas prices already up. The Dow plunging more than 1,200 points today before clawing back some of its losses. Ending the day down, you can see there, 400 points. The NASDAQ dropping 232 points, the S&P 500 down, too. Tonight, it's already affecting gas prices and economists say American consumers can't get a break, and this will go beyond prices at the pump. Here’s Elizabeth Schulze.
ELIZABETH SCHULZE: Tonight, growing fears of prolonged war sending the stock market tumbling and oil prices surging. The Strait of Hormuz shut down, 20% of the world's oil comes through that strait. In just two days, the national average for a gallon of gas soaring 20 cents to $3.13, wiping out the drop in prices since President Trump returned to office.Tonight, the president acknowledging Americans could see higher prices.
DONALD TRUMP: If we have a little high oil prices for a little while -- but as soon as this ends, those prices are going to drop, I believe lower than even before.
SCHULZE: Drivers already worried.
JOE CASSATTA: You’re scared that the prices will just skyrocket.
SCHULZE: Analysts warn higher energy prices will ripple across the economy.
RYAN SWEET: The consumer can't catch a break. So you’re going to see it in food prices, you’re going to see it in air fares. Overall inflation is going to perk up a little bit over the next couple of months.
SCHULZE: David, GasBuddy says if there's not de-escalation in this war, the national average for a gallon of gas could go up another 25 cents in the next two weeks. David.
MUIR: Elizabeth Schulze tonight. Elizabeth, thanks.
Notice how at the start of the report anchor David Muir makes sure to impress upon viewers that the stock market “PLUNGED.” Muir makes sure to get that in and then slyly corrects himself by noting that the Dow closed down 400. In a bygone era, this would’ve been reported as “Dow slightly down in heavy trading.” But these are not the times we live in. The purpose of the whole exercise is to make things out to be worse than they actually are in the mind of the viewership.
Schulze then found a scared driver to further hammer the point home, before receiving similar insights from an economist. The report closes out with further doomsaying contingent upon the military operation extending beyond its initial projected feed time here.
Who even does projected economic reporting 4 days into an operation? And for what purpose? It is clear from this report that its purpose is to create a sense of malaise, and create a fear among viewers. One suspects that had President Joe Biden launched an operation against Iran, the news might react to it in another way. Some might say, (D)ifferently.
