Summary
As a grocery worker, I have taken a keen interest in inflation and the substantial increase in the cost of goods. The price of eggs indicates the inflation we live in (without mentioning the avian flu!). Knowing this, I looked at the news section related to the increase of 6.4% in annual inflation. The first thing I noticed that showed how biased our media is was the title. The title was a preamble of how each news outlet was approaching the subject of inflation. Fox News (right) title was "Inflation rose 6.4%," a sign of a more somber approach with a clear indication to the readers that the inflation is still as bad as ever. The title for ABC News (left), "Inflation continued to cool in January," is almost like it is disappearing and not becoming a problem. Furthermore, finally, MarketWatch (center) title was "CPI shows inflation sticky and slowing grudgingly," which gave me the impression that inflation is not rising but is not going away as quickly as others may see it.
The titles also affected my initial approach to reading the articles. However, I kept an open mind with the hopes that each article would explain the reality of what we, as consumers and citizens, see every day in our economy as a rising cost of living.
All articles agreed on one thing: inflation is still high and has fallen short of the federal reserve target of a 2% rate.
Nevertheless, as I expected from the titles, Fox News was the most vocal and critical of inflation, claiming that it was not a relief as expected. Although it is lower than last year, it fails to explain why it is still high and pays little to no attention to the fact that there has been a steady decline in the inflation rate.
On the other hand, ABC News did explain that there has been a reduction in the inflation rate but then turned the attention to some of the items that have both increased in price (such as eggs!) and those that have decreased in price, like electronics.
However, it added some other economic facts, such as the 517,000 jobs, that while relevant to the economy, it felt to me like they were trying to add positive facts to distract the reader from the still high inflation rate.
As for MarketWatch, it was a more financial and economic reading approach to inflation. Not only was it full of economic indicators (from the cost of goods, foods, and shelter) it also mentioned that stocks are getting some gains. I also found it interesting that it was critical of the inflation numbers but did explain what other areas were still high (like groceries). The increase was less than .5%, which is a good sign of slowing inflation.
I learned from this that any reader needs to read all three articles to get a complete picture of our current state of the economy and inflation. I do agree with MarketWatch. I have seen some prices come down (this week, eggs in my supermarket were $2.89, the lowest price in months), but it is still painfully high compared to prior years. I also am concerned (and this is on a separate note) that no article mentioned the price gouging in the US and how corporations' profits have hit a 50-year high, which shows you that the cost of producing goods for US corporations did not rise, but the goods itself did? Weird?
I am happy that with this class, I have found this page. PS – My fiancé is happier than me since he likes to read the news and now feels it is easier to see all three sides quicker!
