CNN Adopts Positive Spin on Gas Prices After White House Pressure

CNN could have proved you wrong if you believed that the Biden Administration was conspiring with news media to get favorable coverage on economic issues.

Last week CNN’s Oliver Darcy reported that the Biden administration had been holding private meetings with major news outlets, in which they pressured the media to add more positive spin to their economic coverage.

“Senior White House and admin officials have been holding briefings with major newsrooms over the past week as they try to reshape economic coverage,” Darcy tweetedDec 6.

CNN appears to have picked up the message. Over the course of two weeks, the cable network’s coverage of oil and gas prices shifted from 77 percent negative to 79 percent positive. For a sampling of this past week’s coverage, watch the video below:

MRC analysts examined all of CNN’s regular coverage over the past two weeks (November 30 through December 13), and evaluated the tone of every instance in which anchors, journalists, and reporters discussed oil and gas prices.

Nine times gas prices were discussed on CNN in the week preceding these Biden officials met with journalists. Of those nine mentions, seven (77.7%), had a negative tone while two of them were positive. However during the week immediately following the meetings, gas prices were discussed 43 times – of those mentions, a whopping 34 (79%) were positive in tone, while the remaining nine were negative.

This positive coverage was heavily dependent on U.S. Energy Information Administration data. Their most recent report showed that nationwide gasoline prices had fallen about 5 cents in the past year. Much of the coverage conveniently ignored the fact that gasoline prices had risen by 61 percent over the previous year, making this past November’s average price of $3.39 per gallon the highest since 2014.

A negative tone is any hint that gasoline is expensive. “high gas prices,” “a concern,” “rising”). If the speaker stressed marginal price drops while downplaying, or completely ignoring, significant price rises, then the mention of this was deemed positive. “relief at the pump,” “gas prices down”).

If CNN’s abrupt adoption of positive spin on gas prices has nothing to do with pressure from the Biden administration, then it’s quite a remarkable coincidence, given the severity of the shift in tone.