From the time the CNN event ended on June 27 and 8 am Chicago time, journalist Jennifer Schulze counted “a staggering 192” stories about Joe Biden’s “debate performance” by The New York Times.
I found 21 NYT stories focused on Donald Trump and the debate.
Schulze found 92 stories about Trump, on all topics. I found 86, so our methodology differed a little (around the edges).
In case you think this is a ‘one off’ situation, it’s not.
Penn researchers confirm bias
Researchers at the Penn [University of Pennsylvania] Media Accountability Project (PennMAP) are gathering data about media bias, “define[d] as the preferential selection of some stories, facts, people, events, or points of view over others.” They contend that this bias “is an even bigger problem than the sort of outright lies that misinformation researchers have traditionally worried about.”
As an example from “Joe Biden’s (but not Donald Trump’s) age: A case study in the New York Times’ inconsistent narrative selection and framing” (emphasis added):
During the week that the Special Counsel’s report came out, we examined the top 20 articles on the Times’ landing page every four hours. In that time, they published 26 unique articles about Biden’s age, of which 1 of them explored the possibility that Trump’s age was of equal or more concern.
How will the New York Times report the latest Trump lie?
According to Axios, “John McEntee, former director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office and one of Trump’s most trusted aides, is a senior adviser for” Project 2025.
Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, is working for Project 2025. His SuperPacs are funding it.
Yet Trump said “I know nothing” on TruthSocial.
Five major newspapers, cable demonstrate bias
Try the PennMAP Media Bias Detector. The bias is widespread.
Last month, MediaMatters showed how newspapers other than the New York Times are perpetuating bias. They analyzed The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and USA Today.
This is not a new phenomena. MediaMatters reported last year how five newspapers had about twice as many stories about Biden’s age compared with stories about Trump’s age.
Nor is it limited to newspapers.
Cable “news”? Hoo boy. Look at the mentions for one week last spring.
Where are these stories in mainstream political news? AWOL
July 2024, The Nation
June 2024, The Atlantic
June 2024, political cartoon
March 2024, MediaMatters
September 2023, The Lincoln Project
News organizations are failing to live up to their First Amendment privileges as they focus on clicks and odds (polls) rather than the existential stakes of this election.
