One of the more illustrative moments of media bias comes when a major legislative package is released.
Today, for example, when Senate Republicans released their draft legislation to replace Obamacare.
The headlines tell the tale. Consider what the following “objective” news outlets had to say.
The BBC lead described a bill that “slashes taxes on the wealthy and cuts Medicaid funding.”
USA Today took the same approach, “Senate GOP unveils health care bill that slashes Medicaid and taxes.”
NBC News jumped on the slasher bandwagon, clarifying that the bill would “slash medicaid.”
Slate teased its readers, “here are six lines of text that could decimate America’s biggest health care program.”
Yahoo News stated, “Senate GOP health care bill looks a lot like ‘mean’ House one.”
The Daily Beast took a slightly different angle on the same theme. Referencing protesters at the Capitol, the Beast blared “The government wants to kill me protesters scream at GOP”.
CNN was more nuanced, but clearly saw the bill’s Medicaid reforms in a negative light. Its top headline warned, “Senate health care bill includes deep cuts to Medicaid”.
Of course, this was nothing compared to the more avowedly leftist outlets. Salon’s blazing title declared “GOP Evil: Not just Trump”, adding that the Senate bill is “gruesome.” The Huffington Post huffed two separate headlines, “Disabled Senate protesters removed by force” and “Heartless health care.”
Interestingly, apart from the Washington Times, which reported, “Senate GOP unveils Obamacare replacement; offers tax subsidies for poor, Medicaid expansion,” most conservative media outlets offered straight takes. Fox News kept things basic: “McConnell unveils answer to House Obamacare overhaul.” The Wall Street Journal followed that vein, “Senate unveils health care bill dismantling Obamacare.”
And while CBS News, the Washington Post, and the New York Times also offered objective headlines, the Washington Examiner‘s Susan Ferrechio had the best. “Republicans, Democrats clash on Senate floor after GOP bill revealed.”
Regardless, you get the trend lines here. The pejorative “slash” descriptor is the best indicator. As Merriam Webster explains, to slash is “to lash out, cut, or thrash about with or as if with an edged blade.” A poor choice, I would suggest, for an objective reporter.
And that speaks to something.
Whatever one thinks of the Senate bill, its complexity should have led journalists towards careful headlines and thorough descriptions within their actual articles that avoid cheap and easy shortcuts. But that’s not what happened. And in that failure, we have some good evidence of media bias.
