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USA Today, Washington
Post Repeat Inflation Concerns
But big story in 2005 was how economy
weathered energy prices, says economist.
By Ken Shepherd
Business & Media Institute
Jan. 19, 2006
USA Today and The Washington Post hyped inflation fears today rather
than focus on optimistic outlooks from economists or a Federal
Reserve report showing strong economic growth in the weeks closing
2005.
USA Today editors placed Barbara Hagenbaugh’s article, “3.4%
inflation is worst in 5 years,” below the fold on the front page of
the Jan. 19 paper, while Nell Henderson’s “Inflation
Hit Five-Year High of 3.4% Last Year” commanded the front page
of the Washington Post’s Jan. 19 Business section. By contrast, USA
Today buried favorable economic analysis from the Federal Reserve’s
Beige Book on page 5 of its Money section while the Post’s Henderson only
briefly mentioned it in her inflation story.
Both writers led with reports about a “five-year-high” in inflation,
although the overall inflation rate in 2005, 3.4 percent, was
virtually unchanged from the 2004 rate, 3.3 percent. Additionally,
core inflation, a more accurate measure of inflation as it excludes
volatile fuel and energy prices, was unchanged from 2004 at 2.2
percent.
Hagenbaugh did note that core inflation was “slightly below the 2.3%
annual average seen over the last decade,” and both Hagenbaugh and
Henderson ran a quote from economist Nariman Behravesh that
“record-high energy prices did not spill over into the rest of the
economy.” The Post’s Henderson, however, excluded the first part of
the sentence in which the Global Insight economist called low
inflation “the single best piece of economic news in 2005.” TheBusiness & Media Institute cited Henderson in December 2005 for misleading spin
on
inflation data.
While the Business & Media Institute has also
previously documented
how energy prices did not reach “record” highs, Behravesh’s
observation on the economy’s resilience stands in marked contrast to
the media’s preference for
negativism.
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