Feeling the squeeze at the pump? Today the Associated Press confirms your fears!
The headline? “Pump prices surge to record $2.33 a gallon.”
The first paragraph: “Gas prices have hit a record high of $2.33 a gallon.”
Third paragraph: “The $2.33-a-gallon mark — a national average for all grades of gasoline — narrowly surpassed the prior record of $2.32 set in April.”
Fourth paragraph: “The record price, based on figures compiled Friday, was up nearly a dime from the survey two weeks earlier.”
Oh, wait. What’s that in the eighth paragraph? “The $2.33 mark remained well below the inflation-adjusted high — $3.03 a gallon, in March 1981.”
So gas is really 25 percent cheaper than it was 24 years ago.
Try making that into a headline.
–T.L.
Thomas Lang was a writer at CJR Daily.