Since 1873, the Gazette has been providing daily news to readers in Colorado Springs and beyond. It boasts 156,500 average Sunday Gazette print readers and 93,300 average daily Gazette print readers. It is the second most circulated newspaper in Colorado. The newspaper also won a Pulitzer Pize in 1990 for its feature writing.
The paper’s status and relatively large readership necessitate a closer look into its potential biases. Moreover, editor Vince Bzdek of the Gazette and its sister paper The Denver Gazette, accused competing publications of bias in 2022. However, Bzdek maintained that at the related publications of the Gazette in Colorado Springs, The Denver Gazette, and Colorado Politics, “fairness is our guiding light.”
To determine the accuracy of this sentiment that the Gazette’s reporting is fair and free of political bias, we will analyze the newspaper’s coverage and editorial decisions. Through our analysis, we aim to clarify whether the Gazette is biased as well as highlight the factors that contribute to media bias in general.
How Does Biasly Rate News Sources?
Biasly’s algorithms produce bias ratings to help provide multiple perspectives on given articles. Biasly has analyzed 200,000+ news articles from more than 3,200 news sources through our A.I. technology and team of political analysts to find the most factual, unbiased news stories.
Biasly determines the degree of political bias in news sources by using Biasly’s Bias Meter Rating, in which Biasly’s team analyzes media sources’ reliability and bias and produces three scores, a Reliability Score that measures the accuracy of media sources; an A.I. Bias Score, evaluated by A.I.; and an Analyst Bias Score evaluated by political analysts. These scores are rated based on seven rating metrics including Tone, Tendency, Diction, Author Check, Selection/Omission, Expediency Bias, and Accuracy. These metrics help our analysts to determine the political attitude of the article.
Our A.I. machine-learning system employs natural language processing and entity-specific sentiment analysis to examine individual articles and determine their bias levels. By analyzing the key terms in an article such as policies, bias phrases, political terminologies, politicians, and their nicknames, the algorithms can rate the attitude of the text. Bias scores range from -100% and 100%, with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral.
Is the Gazette Politically Biased?
Biasly’s rating for the Gazette gives the paper a Computer AI Bias Score of Somewhat Conservative, a score generated by its AI-based algorithms. This rating is based on factors that contribute to bias: the leaning of tone, opinion, the diction of the author, and their respective tendencies. For example, Biasly’s AI rated the Gazette’s policy stances on abortion and affirmative action as Somewhat Conservative, due to its articles that discuss these topics in a conservative light. Additionally, it found that the paper covers many liberal politicians in a negative light such as former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Biasly typically presents an Analyst Bias Score alongside the Computer Bias Score. To generate this, a team of analysts representing liberal, moderate, and conservative viewpoints conducts a review of at least 15 of the paper’s articles. The team accounts for preferences of liberal or conservative politicians and policies and the different types of bias in articles when generating these scores. As the number of articles the Biasly analyst team reviews and rates increases, the more precise the analyst score becomes. However, given the status of the Gazette as a local newspaper, it has not yet been given an Analyst Bias Score.
Colorado Springs, home to the Gazette, leans Republican based on voting patterns of people in and around Colorado Springs in recent elections. If the newspaper caters to the political views of its readership, this political landscape of the city likely plays a role in why the Gazette has a bias score of Somewhat Conservative.
The Gazette’s staff have discussed and written about the issue of bias when it comes to other newspapers and in the national media more broadly. In the article, “Media Hate Reaches Epidemic Level as Bias Expands,” author Paul Bedard wrote, “The hatred of today’s biased media has grown to epidemic levels, especially among younger voters who have been quick to trade traditional for social media.
Though the Gazette highlights the biases present in other local and national media, it has yet to discuss any of its own. In the remainder of this article, we will talk about ways to identify bias, how to distinguish fact from fiction, and overall, how you can be a more informed reader.
Before we begin, we need to discuss bias. Bias is a natural function of humans, and we can express it both consciously and unconsciously. Bias is one of the most fundamental forms of pattern recognition in humans. This isn’t to lower the bar and say that “all things are biased,” but to explain the process in which we may come to trust certain news organizations that display patterns of coverage.
On the media’s part, there is an incentive to retain audiences, encourage them to purchase subscriptions, and rate products positively. Bias is a two-way street, people want to see news stories about things they care about, and the media needs viewers to continue their operations. This creates a positive feedback loop that influences what stories are covered and from what perspective. This also explains the actions of more liberal news organizations.
Analysis of Bias in the Gazette’s Online Articles
Given that Colorado Springs leans conservative and the claims that the Gazette has made about other publications being biased, it warrants looking into the potential biases in the paper. To identify the signs of this bias, we will look at a few of their articles in detail below.
The first common metric we will look at is expediency bias. This relates to the immediate impression created by elements like the article’s headline, images, or summary, indicating if they favor a particular viewpoint.
Source: The Gazette
For example, the headline of this article chooses to use the phrase, ‘young, dynamic,’ from the article to describe JD Vance. This elicits a positive feeling overall about Trump’s running mate, especially given that it is associated with the praise that Vance is receiving from Colorado Republicans.
Moreover, the photo of Vance shows him surrounded by people at the Republican National Convention, allowing the impression that he has a lot of support from the party. He is also shown grabbing the hand of a person at the convention, further painting the picture of support for him as Trump’s running mate. However, it is unlikely that many of these people are Colorado Republicans as the headline discusses.
Because of the expediency bias in this article, this portrayal of Vance may be misleading to readers. It shows Vance as seemingly well-received at the convention, while the headline and presumed focus of the article are on Colorado Republicans’ view of him.
To look at the other common metrics used to determine bias, we will focus on an article published in the Gazette called “Trump appears with bandaged ear at Republican convention, names Vance as running mate” Biasly has rated this article as “Extremely Conservative.” Part of the reason for this rating is that though the article points out some flaws in Trump’s campaign, it paints him in an overall positive light while being contrasted to President Biden.
The tone, which is the author’s attitude in the article, is positive and optimistic towards Trump, his campaign, and his support from the Republican party. This is made clear when the author began the article writing:
“Donald Trump made a triumphant entrance during the first night of the Republican National Convention on Monday, receiving a raucous ovation from the party faithful two days after a would-be assassin’s bullet grazed his right ear.”
This conveys an attitude that favors Trump, depicting him as a strong and heavily supported candidate. This is intended to evoke the feeling that Trump is courageous and is well-liked in the party.
The diction used by the author is overt, using adjectives such as “triumphant,” “raucous,” and “faithful” to describe Trump and the events of the convention. This kind of wording contributes to the feelings similarly discussed with the author’s tone.
The tendency, or how consistent bias is present throughout the article, is moderate, however. The author will highlight Trump’s shortcomings in sentences such as:
“Trump has frequently turned to violent rhetoric in campaign speeches, labeling his perceived enemies as “vermin” and “fascists.”
However, a majority of the article aims to show Trump as a leading figure of the party who has undergone positive change after undergoing an assassination attempt:
“Following the shooting, Trump said he was revising his acceptance speech to emphasize national unity, rather than highlight his differences with Biden.”
The authors of this article are Gram Slattery, Alexandra Ulmer, and Nathan Layne. They are reporters for Reuters, a news agency that sells text to news publications. However, this, though also published on the Reuter’s online site, reflects the publication standards and bias tendencies of the Gazette.
Overall, the authors aim to be partial in some focuses of the article, but it is ultimately clear that Trump’s image is uplifted and promoted. This suggests that though some parts of the article were objective, the article was found to be right-leaning. This is an article that is slightly more conservative than the rating that Biasly assigned to the paper. A reason behind this could be that it was purchased from a news agency, rather than being written by its own staff.
Another reason could be that article bias can differ between articles and authors, even when they come from the same organization. This shows the importance of looking for the signs of bias — including (but not limited to) tone, tendency, diction, author, and expediency bias — in any article you come across.
The article, “Adam Schiff joins calls for Biden to suspend 2024 bid: ‘The stakes are too high” from the Gazette demonstrates this, as it contains little to no bias. Biasly’s A.I. rating is “Center,” as it is very objective in its tone, merely stating the facts of the matter and avoiding emotionally-charged language:
“Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) called on President Joe Biden to suspend his reelection campaign as concerns grow within the Democratic base regarding his ability to defeat former President Donald Trump.”
“Schiff’s call, first reported by the LA Times, for Biden to withdraw from the race comes after the congressman reportedly met with donors over the weekend and warned them that Democrats would suffer significant losses this November if Biden remains the party’s presidential nominee.”
The only trace of bias in this article is the subject matter of President Biden stepping down from the race; however, this is a debate within the Democratic party itself, and moreover, the author does not seem to insert any opinion to whether this would be a positive thing or not.
Analysis of the Gazette’s Opinion Articles
Before answering this question, we need to address what the difference is between opinion and reporting. Opinion articles are intended as an outlet for writers to express their personal views on current events. Meanwhile, reporting is intended to be objective, providing the reader with facts and quotes from primary sources to let them form their own opinion. Though we can see elements of factual reporting in the previous analysis, the opinion articles in the Gazette don’t seek objectivity — instead, they prioritize advocating for an opinion.
The opinion article “A county tackles property taxes on its own,” has a heavy conservative bias. The author opens the article with:
“Our state’s elected leaders might as well be governing from Mars — so oblivious are they to the skyrocketing property taxes crushing Colorado homeowners.”
Most of Colorado’s leaders are Democrats, so this negative description of their leadership contains right-leaning bias. Furthermore, the author praises Douglas County for cutting the county’s budget and refunding $200 to local taxpayers to relieve the burden of soaring property taxes. The author continues by arguing that other countries should follow suit. This support for this tax policy is right-leaning, and advocating strongly for this shows conservative bias in the article. The author does not mention arguments in favor of keeping the county’s budget intact, contributing to this bias.
However, the editorial “World’s space race booms in the Springs” is more partial, with an objective title and focused on informing the reader. Based on the title alone, it could be safely assumed that this article would be less biased than the one previous.
These articles make up just a small amount of the entirety of the Gazette’s content, but they highlight the vast amount of opinion that infiltrates their paper. This further emphasizes the importance of knowing how to discern the difference between subjective writing and factual reporting.
Who Owns the Gazette?
The Clarity Media Group, a subsidiary of the Anschutz Entertainment Group, owns the Gazette as well as its sister publications: The Denver Gazette, Colorado Politics and the Washington Examiner. Chris Reen is the CEO and president of the Clarity Media Group, and he has been awarded the 2022 Frank W. Mayborn Leadership Award from America’s Newspapers.
While little is known about Reen’s political opinions, more is known about those of Phil Anschutz, the founder of the Anschutz Entertainment Group. Anshutz is a top-money Republican based in Denver, Colorado whose net worth is $19.5 Billion. He has been called on by The Colorado Times Recorder’s writer Jason Salzman to “stifle” the “impetuous and extremist” editorial board of the Gazette in order to improve the image of Republicans.
How to Evaluate and Uncover Bias
It can often be difficult to tell if the news you watch is biased. If you have settled on a news channel, it’s usually because you trust the information you are gaining. Unfortunately, many trust the information they are hearing because it confirms what they already believe. This is referred to as “confirmation bias.” It is important to challenge your beliefs and get third-party verification that what you are hearing is the full story. This is why we recommend using Biasly to compare different news stories side-by-side using our bias ratings to figure out what both sides think of a political issue.
Though Biasly gave the Gazette a Somewhat Conservative bias score, it is important to remember that bias varies by article. The Gazette does not solely print right-leaning articles and is known to publish some centrist and left-leaning articles as well. In addition, articles will inherently vary in terms of the amount of bias they contain. For example, general news articles are known for being less biased than opinion pieces. Even though every article you read will be biased to some extent, some are more objective than others, which is why it’s so important to use Biasly’s News Check to help you determine the bias of what you read.