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CNN Continues to Dismiss
FTC Report on Price Gouging
Anchor bemoans results but weeks earlier
called for higher gas prices with gas tax hikes.
By Ken Shepherd
Business & Media Institute
May 24, 2006
On the May 24 “American Morning,” CNN’s Miles O’Brien
dismissed a new
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
study that found no systemic price gouging by the oil industry. Yet
the same reporter recently suggested raising gas taxes.
“The results are in from a price gouging
investigation, and there’s not a lot of good news for the little guy
in this one,” O’Brien teased at the opening of the 7 a.m. hour of
the May 24 “American Morning.”
O’Brien,
who specializes in space program reporting, did not launch into an
explanation as to why it was unfortunate that the oil industry
didn’t really take advantage of consumers following Katrina.
On May 23, “American Morning” contributor
Andy Serwer
similarly disparaged the FTC study saying it “boggles the mind.”
A few weeks earlier, O’Brien suggested
higher prices would be good for the little guy. On the
April 25
“American Morning,” O’Brien said high gas prices “could be a good
argument for a gas tax” to finance alternative fuel research.
“We have enough gas taxes, don’t you think,” co-host Carol Costello
replied.
“Well, maybe we could have more,” O’Brien retorted.
While O’Brien has exhibited a bias in favor of paying government
more at the pump, other news outlets have reported on the cost of
gas taxes. On the May 24 “The Early Show,” for example, reporter
Vince Gonzales filed a story on what anchor Julie Chen called the
“shockingly high gas taxes” in states such as New York and
California.
“In a time of high prices, gas taxes can really bite into an average
motorist’s budget,” Gonzales reported, noting that drivers in
California and New York pay “more than 60 cents a gallon in tax”
from state and federal levies.
The Business & Media Institute recently
documented how ABC’s Dan Harris also reported on the
windfall that government receives from gas taxes.
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