Since the start of the pandemic, mentions of inflation followed four stages, each time surging and then leveling off at a new elevated level:
- Stage 1: January 2021 – May 2021
- Stage 2: May 2021 – September 2021
- Stage 3: September 2021 – March 2022
- Stage 4: March 2022 – Present
This can be seen in the timeline below:
Fox News has mentioned inflation nearly triple its peers since the start of the pandemic. Indeed, it led the surges at the start of each of the four stages of coverage.
Interestingly, personality-driven shows dominate coverage of inflation, suggesting it is being heavily contextualized rather than framed as a hard news story:
