Is the media serving as a weather balloon for the oil companies to raise gas prices?

[nanD]

I have noticed that the T.V. news is always announcing the highest prices they find at gas stations. Wouldn't the oil companies wait to see how the public reacts to these higher prices before they raise them even more. If there's no riots in the streets, they know they can safely move the price up another notch or two.
Should the media back off, and stop anesthetizing us to higher gas prices?
Are they really concerned about "the public's right to know", or are they just trying to find junk stories to fill up their half hour " news" programs, in order to keep their ratings up?
I don't believe the media is directly to blame for rising gas prices, but they do seem to accommodate the oil companies by getting people over the sticker shock from the neww prices.--- If they tell us the prices will soon be $6.00 per gallon, then $5.25 per gallon sounds O.K., and people don't react too strongly.