Fox News aired an on-air correction this week after a graphic on its programming falsely suggested that gas prices in the United States had gone down compared to last year. The mistake appeared on both America Reports and the Fox Business Network, according to Huffpost.
The graphic compared national average gas prices at three points in time: the day it aired, a week before that, and a year before that. It listed the current price as $4.06 and claimed the price a year earlier was $4.13, which would have meant prices had actually dropped over the past year.
That claim was incorrect. The actual national average gas price a year earlier was about $3.13 to $3.14, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA) and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. This means gas prices had actually gone up by about 90 cents over the past year, not down.
Fox Business correspondent explains the mistake on air
The graphic first aired on Monday, August 17, 2026, during a segment on America Reports. It showed up during a live report from Fox Business correspondent Edward Lawrence, just before host John Roberts interviewed U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright.
The correction aired the next day, on Tuesday, August 18, on both America Reports and Fox Business Network. On America Reports, Lawrence addressed the error directly. “Yesterday, we aired a graphic that showed gas prices incorrectly last year were $4.13 a gallon. They were in fact $3.13 a gallon, that’s 90 cents more in the past year,” he said.
Lawrence also said, “The Trump administration says those gas prices will fall quickly once the operations in Iran ends.” Some analysts have offered their own predictions on when prices might fall below $3 again.
A Fox News spokesperson confirmed to fact-checking website Snopes that the graphic aired on both programs on August 17, and that a correction aired on both on August 18. The spokesperson did not respond to a question about why the graphic showed the wrong figure in the first place.
The graphic listed its source as “AAA.” According to AAA’s website, the national average gas price on August 17, 2026, was around $4.06, which matches the figure Fox News used. The website also listed the price from a week earlier as around $4, which also matches the graphic. However, AAA’s website listed the price from a year earlier at $3.1376, or about $3.14, not $4.13, as the graphic stated.
Video of the graphic was shared widely on social media after independent journalist Aaron Rupar posted it on X on August 17. In his post, Rupar wrote that the graphic falsely showed gas prices a year ago as $4.13, and said the actual figure was $3.14. The graphic and Rupar’s post were also shared on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Reddit.
Some social media users who shared the graphic suggested that Fox News had misled viewers on purpose in order to support the Trump administration. Fox News did not respond to a question about why the incorrect figure was used. Trump himself has weighed in on the rising cost at the pump, and he recently ordered a federal probe into gas pricing practices.
Gas prices have risen sharply since early 2026. According to AAA, the national average price passed $4 per gallon in early April 2026 for the first time since August 2022. This increase has been linked to the effects of the war between the United States and Iran, which President Donald Trump launched in February 2026, along with a continuing standoff over the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway used to transport much of the world’s oil supply.
Trump had campaigned on promises to lower energy costs for Americans. By August 2026, he instead asked voters to accept paying “a tiny little bit more for your gasoline” in order to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, which he has described as one of the main goals of the war.
As of this report, there had been no significant progress toward a peace agreement to end the conflict. During a speech on August 14, 2026, Trump said Iran was being “very badly defeated” and said he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz “a territory of the United States.”
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, responded in a post on X directed at Trump, saying the Strait “will be closed and opened only under Iran’s command, and as long as you do not accept the reality of your defeat and abandon your illusions, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade.”
Published: Aug 19, 2026 10:30 am