CBS Kicks Off Another Road Trip on Gas Prices
Competitor ABC notes that prices are nowhere near record highs

By Ken Shepherd
Business & Media Institute
May 2, 2006

     Elderly care worker Hopal Morrison never “used to have to ask clients to pay for her gas, but now she has to and it hurts,” CBS correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi told viewers of the May 1 CBS “Evening News.”

     Yet Alfonsi’s report – the first in an “Eye on the Road” series on gas prices – left out how Morrison’s work-related gas mileage is tax deductible and how Morrison drives nearly seven times more per year than the average American motorist.

     “Lately this angel wishes she could fly. She travels 300 miles a day and pays for her own gas. It's killing her. So I gave here a ride,” Alfonsi shared with viewers. Morrison works in Florida for Visiting Angels, a business franchise which provides elderly clients with regular visits by caregivers.

     With a five-day work day of 300 miles each day, Morrison would log around 78,000 miles per year on her car from work alone. That’s close to 67,000 more miles than the household vehicle according to government statistics.

     According to bankrate.com, drivers like Morrison can deduct business-related trips at 44.5 cents-per-mile. Assuming her car gets an average of 20 miles to the gallon, Morrison can deduct $8.90 in taxes per every gallon of gas consumed for her business, nearly $6 over the current average price for regular unleaded gasoline.

     Alfonsi’s skewed coverage of gas prices continued as she asserted that senior citizens are “making difficult choices” with some “cutting back on medicine” while “others say they're eating less.” But the graphic aired on screen based on an AARP survey revealed only 6 and 13 percent figures for those respectively.

     In other words, at least 81 percent of the elderly were having no problem.

     On ABC’s “World News Tonight,” correspondent Barbara Pinto gave viewers a broader perspective about gas prices. “Gasoline is still cheaper than when prices soared in the early '80s,” Pinto told viewers. “Adjusted for inflation, prices then would be nearly 50 cents a gallon higher than they are now.”

     Pinto’s May 1 report also featured a rarity in recent gas price coverage: a driver who isn’t complaining about the cost. “These are all just places we're going to go and we need to go. And we're going to have to pay the price to do it,” mother of three Tracy Band told Pinto about her daily routine.