I’ll See Your Price and Raise You a Quarter

Business & Media Institute

I’ll See Your Price and Raise You a Quarter
Networks fret over high gas costs, yet still depict prices higher than they are.

By Rachel Waters and R. Warren Anderson
Business & Media Institute
May 25, 2006

“Tonight gasoline prices are starting a run upward, and in a big way,” said Nightly News anchor, Brian Williams, on April 11. And he wasn’t just talking about the prices we pay at the pump. Pictures of gas station prices on NBC averaged 36 cents higher than the national average between March 21 and May 24. For the typical American driver with a 20 mpg vehicle, the 36 cents extra would equal more than $200 a year.

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     On April 23, NBC’s John Seigenthaler said “around the country, some pumps are more painful than others,” and the story went on to highlight this pain. The national average that day was $2.86, but the three prices shown – $3.21, $3.95 and $4.14 – averaged almost a dollar more than that. Oil industry analyst, John Kilduff, said “Gasoline prices are going to continue to soar.” In fact, the average price for gas on May 25 was the same as the day Kildruf made this claim. The only soaring prices were those shown on screen.

     Over the past two months, gas prices shown on screen by the three networks were 26 cents higher than the national average. That’s 140 percent of the amount the U.S. government gets on each gallon of gas. Despite the hype, that is actually an on-screen improvement from an earlier study by the Business & Media Institute. Following Hurricane Katrina, network photos portrayed gas prices 75 cents higher than average.

     Dean Reynolds on “World News Tonight” typified the way the networks portrayed gas prices on screen March 21. As he stated “the current $2.50 average” for a gallon of gas, a photograph of gas selling for $2.69 flashed on the screen.

     “World News Tonight” on April 23 ran a story that showed the high and low end of gas prices. Prices were shown from California and Utah, which represented some of the most and least expensive gas prices in the country, respectively. Before giving tips for finding cheap gas, Brian Rooney pointed out that “a gallon of gas at the average price is hard to find.”

     The average price was even harder to find on the news shows. Nearly 84 percent of all gas price displays were above average. Just 16 percent were below average. Out of 135 pictures of gas price displays, only one was the exact daily average. These pictures appeared in 44 evening newscasts on ABC, CBS and NBC between March 21 and May 24.

     Network depictions averaged $3.11, 26 cents higher than the national average of $2.85 a gallon during that same time frame, according to AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report. Interestingly, the highest average price on record, adjusted for inflation, is just one penny higher than the network portrayal – $3.12.

     ABC’s coverage of gas pricing was the least inflated, it averaged 14 cents above the national average. NBC’s coverage was the worst, depicting gas 36 cents above average. CBS wasn’t far behind at .34. All networks improved their portrayal of gas pricing since the last study. Previously networks showed gas 75 cents above the national average, with NBC at $1.01, CBS at 89 cents, and ABC at 48 cents.

     Six of the stories in this study showed gas that was more than a dollar above the national average. ABC had four such stories and NBC two. CBS never ran a story that depicted gas at or below average.

     According to experts, there are many reasons why gas prices have risen. Those include: political problems in places such as Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, and Venezuela, lingering effects from Katrina, increased demand from China and India, new ethanol requirements, and the typical summer increase. While explaining these reasons to viewers, the networks often displayed prices that were national extremes rather than those encountered by the average American consumer.