Americans have been suffering from painful, skyrocketing gas prices for the past month. The effects are being echoed in all parts of the economy and are already squeezing wallets. But if you watch the morning and evening network newscasts, you will find that almost all the blame lies with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Joe Biden? His role has been almost completely ignored.
From February 24 to March 21, the networks blamed Russia 11-to-1. ABC, CBS and NBC have blamed Russia 33 times and the Democratic president only 3 times. (Disruption by network: NBC blames Russia 16 times, CBS 11 times and ABC 6 times.)
Networks have blamed oil and gas companies 3 times and other miscellaneous excuses (epidemics, changes in summer gas mixes, inflation) an additional 9 times. It’s not that gas prices haven’t skyrocketed already. On February 21, just before the start of the war, they averaged 3.62. (They had $ 2.39 when Democrats took office.)
As a presidential candidate, Biden promised to “get rid of fossil fuels” and promised that “there are no more coal plants”. He killed the Keystone pipeline on the first day of Biden’s presidency. In the last 14 months, the three network evening newscasts have given a very short time of 29 seconds (16 seconds on NBC, 10 on CBS and only 3 on ABC).
Biden has also stopped leasing oil and gas to federal land. In May 2021, he lifted sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to bring gas from Russia to Germany, a major victory for Vladimir Putin.
And yet, the tone of the report in the first four weeks of the war vaguely echoed the notion that all of this was happening because of Russia, with already high prices falling or being ignored.
On February 24 TodaySenior Business Correspondent Stephanie Ruhel expressed sympathy for the President: “We have heard from President Biden that he is acutely aware of this. He is very sensitive to the price of pumps for the American people. He says he will do what he can.”
Other times, such as March 9 NBC Nightly NewsReporter Miguel Almagui simply parroted the White House’s points about “Putin’s price rise.”
While blaming President Biden Putin for the rising cost of living, the White House is trying to remind Americans who they are.
(Liberal cable channels MSNBC and CNN have also aggressively pushed this point of view. Watch a video by Newsbusters Media Editor Bill D’Agostino.)
Sometimes, there was No. Trying to assign all the blame. The price of skyrocketing gas is falling as if Americans are victims of nature. March 5 World news tonight ABC has shown the tragic effects of high prices, but they are only presented as inexplicable.
Man: I don’t have a very profitable car to travel from Cookville to Nashville. Therefore, I had to quit my job.
…
Woman: I’m not even making enough to cover the gas. So, now, I’m choosing between gas and groceries.
March 7, World news tonight Anyone who accuses him, punishes the president by blaming the oil and gas company for possible blame:
Today, the president, aware of critics who say the United States should produce more oil and gas internally, has called on energy giants to start drilling with their existing permits. And he warned them not to take advantage of this moment.
Ruhel returned on 25 February Today Expressing grief over the box in Biden: “The president has said he is concerned. He wants to try to help the Americans … his options are somewhat limited. ”
In November 2020, the Media Research Center conducted a survey about the 2020 election and what Americans have actually learned from the media. As Rich Noise, then-research director, noted, “More than half (50.5%) of biden voters say they don’t know. [Trump moving to make us energy independent]. If the data were known to all, 5.8% of Biden voters said they would change how they voted.
The United States became a net exporter of oil for the first time in September 2019. But you didn’t know that by watching ABC, CBS and NBC in Trump’s year. They buried this achievement. And under Biden’s presidency, networks are trying their best to censor his lame energy policies.