This is because media and government (in various computations) use CPI when talking about inflation, so it is natural for them to become used interchangeably.

This is because media and government (in various computations) use CPI when talking about inflation, so it is natural for them to become used interchangeably. Since CPI doesn't reflect inflation, it is natural to criticize it for failing at that. Maybe it was never meant to reflect inflation, but that seems about as futile as trying to argue for the proper, original meaning of the term "hacker", not what media made it to be.