The United States just witnessed its best inflation success story in years, with the June 2024 consumer price index report showing a slight decline in prices for the first time since 2020, which was well below expert expectations.

Some experts pointed to the report to argue that the inflation fight had been won, and one economist described the latest CPI measurement as simply "amazing.” 

Yet, The New York Times, often considered the “newspaper of record,” and USA Today, one of the top newspapers by circulation, buried their stories on this report.

Inflation has consistently been one of the biggest issues in the presidential election, according to numerous polls. Both the Times and USA Today have reported on its importance in shaping public opinion about President Joe Biden and overall confidence in the state of the economy. 

And yet, in the wake of the best inflation news in years, the Times included only a minuscule headline and blurb on the very bottom of its front page, redirecting readers to full coverage in its business section. USA Today did the same at the top of its front page.

Other top newspapers gave the excellent inflation report front page coverage, even as they provided reporting space to other major stories, including the NATO summit, continued political fallout from President Biden's June 27 debate performance, and the historic heat wave gripping much of the United States. The Wall Street Journal placed its story above the fold, and The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times both placed their stories below the fold on the front page.

The short shrift given by some newspapers' front pages to the monthly CPI report published on July 11 is emblematic of the inflation coverage Media Matters has tracked (here, here, here, and here) in these same five newspapers earlier this year.

Between January 11 and June 11, print news stories on inflation overwhelmingly failed to properly contextualize the issue, failing to mention that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has implemented and proposed policies that would worsen inflation. Eventually, 16 Nobel Prize-winning economists signed a letter warning about Trump's dangerous economic policies on inflation due to concerns over polling showing Trump outperforming President Joe Biden on the economy.