Pain at the PumpAAAARRGH!!!

If you watched the local or national news last week, you’d discover that gas prices are so far through the roof that nobody can afford to drive anymore and that people are simultaneously doing so much driving that the roads were all parking lots for the Fourth of July.

 

When gas prices jumped about 40 cents in a short period of time, Action News and the other outlets were hair on fire with stories about “pain at the pump” and graphics showing how expensive it was to drive. Every day there was some update about how high prices were. There was reporting about how gas prices set a new record almost every day (!!!) for a month. (Yes, that’s how it works when prices go above a certain previous high watermark—every rise becomes a new record. This is not shocking as much as it is basic math.) Of course, there were a glut of interviews of people appalled to be paying $50 a tank to fill up, all gathered at gas stations right off the interstate so reporters would not have to go out of their way.

 

Now, after prices recently declined about 30 cents in a short period of time, you don’t hear as much about it. I watch the local and national news in the morning and we have it on during dinner, and declining gas prices are a footnote. I think that quiet is very illustrative of how TV news works.

 

The way I see it, if it was newsworthy when gas prices spiked, it’s just as newsworthy when they decline about the same amount in the same period of time. You could say, “Yeah, it’s down from $4.99 a gallon but big deal—$4.69 is still pretty expensive.” But doesn’t that work the opposite way? If the decline is no big deal because gas is still expensive, the initial rise to $4.99 shouldn’t have been as big a deal because prices were still $4.69 before they started climbing in June. Know what I mean?

 

It's no secret that the operating principle to local news is “If it bleeds, it leads,” and it’s by definition easier to get footage of Phil from Fishtown complaining about gas prices at Wawa than to talk to people who are happy gas is a little cheaper. But between screaming about gas prices and hyping up the dystopia signified by hot dogs for your Fourth of July BBQ costing 8% more due to inflation, it’s like they’re rooting for the economy to be worse.

 

I wish the news would spend a little more time and nuance on these issues, but that would take valuable time and resources away from Action News sending Alicia Vitarelli and her family on a Disney cruise so they can promote their parent company (which, God knows, is badly in need of some promotion).

 

There was almost a lightbulb above local news last week, as they remarked how everybody and their mother was driving this summer, almost but not quite linking it with high gas prices. Maybe … maybe that so many people are still driving means … gas prices are high but … that people are shifting budgets around … to adapt to that? And if that’s true … then maybe … high prices are annoying … but not the end of the world?

 

Come on. You’re so close. You can do it …