News/Commentary

NBC News airs entire segment on inflation but something is missing

August 14, 2024 | | Print Article

NBC News did a segment Tuesday on how rising prices are proving to be a challenge for many American corporations when it comes to customer retention but failed to mention the Biden-Harris administration once as it reported on the impact of inflation.

Starbucks is highlighted as the network reported that Chipotle boss Brian Niccol has replaced CEO Laxman Narasimhan at the coffee chain and that Niccol is tasked with luring back customers driven away by inflation, long waits, and cheaper coffee by competitors.

“Fed up with inflation, more Americans are simply saying no,” NBC News reporter Tom Costello said.

But nowhere in the segment is there any mention of the Biden-Harris administration or its spending policies that have contributed to inflation, which hit a 40-year high in 2022. And while inflation has dropped off significantly since then, the increase in pricing remains largely intact — at the height of inflation, the price of eggs went up 33.1%, meat 8.2%, gasoline 59.9%, used cars 7.1% and air travel 34.1%, according to the Heritage Foundation.

Now that Vice President Kamala Harris is at the top of the Democratic ticket, her response to inflation has been to continue President Biden’s approach of blaming greedy corporations.

“On day one, I will take on price gouging and bring down costs,” she said during a rally in Atlanta. “We will ban more of those hidden fees and surprise late charges that banks and other companies use to pad their profits. We will take on corporate landlords and cap unfair rent increases.”

Harris is set to make her first policy-centered speech as Democratic presidential candidate on Friday, according to Reuters, and she will reportedly focus on price gouging as she outlines her plan to lower costs for middle-class families.

While NBC News did not mention the administration in Tuesday’s reporting, ABC News went one further after the Republican National Convention, blaming rising prices on a supply shortage imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

“There’s a long list of reasons for the high inflation. At the top of the list is the pandemic and the Russian war,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told ABC News.

And while Zandi owned up to the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan playing a role, he insisted, “It’s at the bottom of the list.”

Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on the social media platform X:

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