Commentary: Fox Business News errs on gas tax piece

   Fox Business News’ “Money With Melissa Francis” program was recently called out by the Associated General Contractors of America for running with a preconceived notion, rather than checking the facts.
   It’s a journalistic no-no.
   During a segment that aired on the Friday, Jan. 16 show, Francis cited the recent groundbreaking for the Michael Haydon Transportation Museum in Lexington, Ky., as proof that Highway Trust Fund dollars, which come from the gas tax, are still being used to fund non-transportation related projects.
   But in a letter to Fox Business News, the AGC pointed out that the project was funded through the Transportation Enhancements program, which was eliminated in 2012 when Congress enacted a series of reforms in the MAP-21 surface transportation legislation. So, in reality, the funding for the museum was appropriated by Congress before museums became ineligible for federal transportation funding.
   Transportation Enhancements are designed to strengthen cultural, aesthetic, historic and environmental aspects of transportation infrastructure. Bike paths and landscaping along certain routes are common projects supported by the program, which critics said squandered money highway users paid for transport infrastructure. The Haydon museum, named after a former mayor, will educate the public about the history of transportation in the Springfield region.
   The project will cost $800,000, three-quarters of which will be paid with federal funding, according to Kentucky newsletter The Lane Report.
    It should be noted that AGC members benefit anytime concrete or asphalt is poured for roads and bridges, but a lot of other interests also legitimately favor highway infrastructure funding to make business and the economy more competitive. 
   AGC officials said the reporting error is significant because it incorrectly leaves viewers with the impression that some portion of the federal gas taxes they pay are being wasted on projects that do nothing to improve the safety and reliability of their commutes, when in fact the opposite is true.
   “We understand that you and some of your Fox Business News colleagues have taken a strong stance in opposition to the many Democrat and Republican officials who have suggested raising the federal gas tax to bring our aging roads and bridges back into a state of good, and safe, repair,” wrote Brian Turmail, the association’s senior executive director of public affairs. “Yet as a journalist, you must understand the need to rely on accurate information while reporting and providing on-air commentary.”
   The AGC called on the show to make an on-air correction. Correcting the record is important, Turmail said, because raising funds to fix highways and bridges will be debated by Congress this session as it considers another long-term transportation bill.
   “The last thing any of us would want is for that debate to be inappropriately influenced by your erroneous reporting,” he added.

This commentary was published in the February 2015 issue of American Shipper.