Previous Troubling Reports

This article is troubling news for me because it uses a lot of partisan language and buzzwords to frame peaceful protests in a divisive way. The phrase "hate America rallies" is emotionally charged, and paints peaceful protests as unpatriotic without presenting any concrete evidence to back up their claims. Having this kind of language in the article's title creates a "click-bate" headline because it exaggerates the issue to provoke emotion and strong reactions instead of presenting a more center-leaning, factual account--this is also seen throughout the article, not just in the title. All in all, This kind of wording encourages readers to take a side rather than understand the facts and that is why this article is troubling news.

Not a credible report of a heist at the Louvre involving "priceless jewels". The headline mimics classic viral fake stories.

The headline of this article could be seen as misinformation. President Trump is claiming that the President of Colombia is a drug dealer, but he is making those claims without any evidence. This statement is very emotionally charged as it comes after the Colombian President condemned the US strikes in the Caribbean.

As is typical of MSNBC articles, this article regarding Donald Trump's involvement of himself and his son in the real estate business in Indonesia as part of the Trump family business is highly criticized and contains a high amount of left-leaning bias. The article subheading states, "After years of searching for evidence of a 'Biden crime family,' conservatives have said little about the Trumps’ apparent self-dealing." This bias is clearly evident before the actual article content has even been read, making it troubling news. It immediately compares how criticism of Trump is lacking compared to criticism of the previous president, Joe Biden. Further down in the article, there is a direct quote stating an opinion from the author, not a fact. "And now here we have audiovisual evidence of the United States’ criminally convicted president setting up a potential meeting between a foreign leader and his son — and said son now suggests the foreign leader wants a meeting because of his interest in the Trump family business." While this may be based on facts, a personal negative opinion of Trump clearly comes through the writing, which invalidates this article's objectivity. I find this certainly to be troubling, yet unfortunately characteristic of many articles published on MSNBC's website.

The article title is misleading. The judge halted the firing of federal employees because the assistant attorney general wasn't prepared, and the judge thought the firings were unconstitutional. The reporter makes digs at her being emotional when she is just asking questions and giving her opinion. Additionally, some of the sources used are just other conservative news sources, calling her emotional.

Info Wars is notorious for spreading conspiracy theories, defamatory statements, and providing extremely biased and unreliable news. To begin, the full title of this article, written by Sean Miller, includes a slur directed towards the transgender community. The news being discussed is of a school board meeting in Maine protesting trans children using locker rooms that correspond to their gender identity. The author uses sources such as X (formerly known as Twitter), and uses opinions from the public, as well as his own opinions, to spread misinformation on what the transgender locker room policy actually promotes. Miller says statements such as, "transgenderism is the gateway drug to pedophilia", and also highlights biological differences between male and female athletes, stating unfair competition. Overall, the article provides no factual information regarding what the policy is, what the nuances are, or how it will be implemented in Maine's schools. Instead, Miller wrote an article supporting his own transphobia and the continuous slander that has been generated towards the trans community in an attempt to demonize such a small percentage of the U.S. population.

To me, this is troubling news because of the way that the information was presented. Author Anthony L. Fischer implements a lot of his own opinions into the writing, which may influence the audience to think about the situation in a particular way. MSNBC is known for having a left-wing perspective, and this article further backs that analysis. There is wording from Fischer such as "undeniable Republican gutter racism" and "the bottom line is that racism is part and parcel of the MAGA movement". While what the candidates have said is overtly awful, the way that this author presents what should be just facts is incredibly inflammatory. There are no photos/screenshots of the chats, either, even if there is a link. None of this crosses precisely into misinformation, but the shift of perspective and the addition of personal opinion may inch much closer to that than a source labeled as center.

While it is absolutely terrible that a handful of young republicans have been participating in a chat that uses derogatory language against minority and racial groups and praises extreme radicalism. I found it concerning that this report, along with many other articles about this report, are using partisan language and buzzwords when getting their point across. As in example, the article uses phrases like "vile racist and anti-Semetic rhetoric" that are filled with buzzwords to describe the derogatory nature of the text messages instead of using language that was more standardized and neutral. Additionally, the article often used partisan, politically charged, and emotionally charged language. One examples is the "Trump-era loosening of political norms". This phrase implies that under President Trump, speaking inappropriately about someone has become more normalized or socially acceptable. This type of language can be seen as reflecting a left-leaning bias (to some extent) because it frames the behaviors and rhetoric of these Young Republicans as not only morally disgraceful but also a symptom of a broader, negative transformation associated with right-wing politics under Trump. While I am thankful that these actions have been brought to light, I wish the report was written to reflect a more center-leaning position.

I found this article misleading because firstly, the charges against Osefo are not in relation to her involvement in the BLM movement, even though the article suggests that Osefo's motives involving herself in BLM are related to her being a "scammer." Secondly, I found the article misleading because it extrapolates one person's alleged crimes to being something that all BLM leaders share-- this is a large claim that requires much more evidence than what is provided in the article.

This article by the Department of Homeland Security was one of the most troubling I came across during my research for an assignment concerning ICE. This article clearly speaks with a partisan bias and selectively uses poll data to support its stance on immigration. While it is true that the majority of America, according to these polls, supports the deportation of criminal illegal immigrants, the majority of America also believes that ICE has gone too far with current mass deportations, a statistic provided in the same study that they cite. The author cherry-picked certain statistics that sounded most favorable to the administration's policy stance and called any criticism of the recent deportations "leftist smears." This behavior from an unreliable journalist would have been more understandable, at least, but an article of this nature on the dhs.gov website is irresponsible and provokes the partisan divide.

It emphasizes the stock drop as “knocked down by the revived U.S. trade war.” This implies a single main cause affecting the stock drop which came from multiple factors. It simplifies a complex economic situation and spread misleading information.

This source is certainly politically biased, making it not reliable, objective reporting. The article discusses Pope Leo's urging of the bishops in the United States to take a firm stance against Trump and ICE's treatment and deportation of migrants out of the US. The article describes the recent actions as "the cruelty of the Trump administration’s deportation policy." The quote demonstrates a strong liberal bias from the author, which is common for MSNBC as a whole. Overall, the clear bias in this article makes it not reliable and therefore troubling news.