It’s Not What It Looks Like (Bias Against Trump)
Mihika G -
Happy Monday… or is it?
In my continued analysis of the New York Times and its articles on specifically Trump, I have found some conclusive data that I’m glad to share.
Across the board, Trump articles published on the NYT are generally not done so with the intent of supporting him – that much is clear. This is not to say there are no articles that give him his fair share of credit, but generally, he is critiqued more than praised. However, the articles show a generally consistent effort to maintain objective language, relying on things like direct quotes, factual analysis, and policy-based critiques.
There is some emotionally-charged language I identified in my research. For example, his “outrageousness” and “distortions” are mentioned in this article, and this one describes him as “combative” and “disrespectful. In this sense, it is unfair to make the claim that there is no such bias against Trump. But quantitatively, across all months, the frequency of biased rhetoric is much less in Trump articles than Harris articles, and the former tend to focus far more heavily on the serious flaws in policy plans and future goals rather than things like image and branding.
However, a key difference between the Harris bias and the Trump bias lies in the fact that the bias against Trump seems to be character-related, questioning his morals and how they affect his actions, both past and present. Through the use of words such as boasting, morally unfit, bully, etc. in reference to actions Trump has taken or statements/claims he has made, these articles develop the narrative that such behavior should be deemed as unacceptable for a presidential candidate. The bias against Harris, on the other hand, focuses more on things like campaign energy and personality traits aside from political candidacy.
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