Is the tank of gas half empty? Or is the tank of gas half full? The answer to that question seems to depend on which news organization you happen to be asking.
To wit: Recently both the Associated Press and USA Today took a look at the post-Katrina, post-Rita gasoline market in the U.S., and came up with slightly different conclusions.
The headline today from the AP: “Consumers Could Face Price Spikes at Pump”
The headline from yesterday’s USA Today: “Gas prices are doing something crazy: Falling.”
And reading deeper into the stories doesn’t exactly clear up the confusion.
“[A]nalysts warn consumers could face new price spikes and won’t soon be returning to pump prices that propelled the popularity of gas-guzzling SUVs,” reported the AP. “The consensus is that the era of cheap oil for U.S. consumers, accustomed to some of the lowest prices in the industrialized world, is over, at least for the next few years.”
But apparently the aforementioned consensus doesn’t extend to the editorial offices of USA Today. “Gasoline prices, while still high by U.S. standards, are collapsing as Americans cut back driving and as post-hurricane repairs continue in the energy-rich Gulf of Mexico,” noted USA Today. “It’s a forecast that would have been unbelievable less than two months ago, when prices first broke $3 a gallon after Hurricane Katrina damaged oil facilities and refineries in the Gulf.” (Not to mention unbelievable after reading the AP story.)
Each side has its own experts.
The AP story quotes a report from “oil economist” Philip K. Verleger. “My question is, where will the supplies come from?” wrote Verleger. “Will the world import products from the moon?”
Meanwhile, USA Today talked to “veteran pump-price watcher” Tom Kloza, who appeared to contradict Verleger’s doom-and-moon analysis. “I’m officially predicting sub-$2 gasoline by this weekend,” said Kloza.
Thankfully, the Los Angeles Times comes to the rescue today, with an article that can be read to indicate that both AP and USA Today are right.
Under the headline, “Fuel Prices Are Lower Now, but Analysts Warn of Short-Lived Relief at the Pump,” the Times article reports:
“Cheaper gasoline and oil showed up at service stations and futures markets Monday, but analysts warned that the relief probably would be temporary. Although analysts predicted that gasoline could drop soon to prices not seen since last spring, they added that demand would rise again early next year and push pump prices up.”
Got it. Sometimes reporting the whole story helps.
Felix Gillette writes about the media for The New York Observer.