Newspaper coverage of record gas prices is missing important context: Big Oil's record profits

Last week, gas prices reached a new high national average of $5 a gallon. A review of articles discussing surging gas prices, from the print edition of the top 5 U.S. newspapers from June 10 through June 16, found that while costs to consumers are widely reported, the record profits these high gas prices are yielding for Big Oil companies is not. Only 6 of the 26 articles reviewed mentioned oil company profits, while none quantified the record earnings of oil majors like ExxonMobil.

During a press conference in Los Angeles on June 10, President Joe Biden responded to a question on high gas prices — an issue that has been top of mind for Americans and the media since prices started to climb in response to increased demand due to relaxed COVID-19 restrictions and Putin’s invasion of Ukraine — by pointing to the record profits of Big Oil giants like ExxonMobil. As reported by Business Insider:

In fact, Exxon Mobil’s first quarter earnings were $5.5 billion — more than double its earnings in the first quarter of 2021. Its Big Oil peers fared equally as well. “Shell notched its strongest quarterly profit ever, and Chevron posted its best earnings quarter in nearly a decade,” as Business Insider noted. BP had its highest earnings in more than decade, even despite losses from pulling its operations out of Russia. ConocoPhillips’ profits in the first quarter of 2022 saw a five-fold increase from the year prior. Together, the big five oil corporations made $35 billion in a span of three months — representing a 300% increase from the year before. Most notably, these earnings are resulting in huge returns for shareholders rather than being used to invest in bringing costs down for consumers.

https://www.mediamatters.org/washington-post/newspaper-coverage-record-gas-prices-missing-important-context-big-oils-record