October 12, 2024

Pandemonium at CBS News After Journalist Pushes Back on Anti-Israel Author Ta-Nehisi Coates

Why Troubling News:

The article takes an extreme conservative and pro-Israel stance, not giving the pro-Palestine viewpoint offered by Coates fair consideration in the show segment the article is about. None of Coates' words are quoted in the article. Dokoupil (the journalist in the headline) and tweets supporting his more pro-Israeli perspective are the only side directly shown. The article describes Coates' views as having "deeply flawed logic," revealing the blatant bias of the writer. It's sourcing is from other right-leaning sources as well, meaning opposite viewpoints are largely absent. Overall, this article does not offer a primarily informative and objective look at what happened during Coates' interview. It takes a very clear side, while completely omitting or dismissing the arguments from the other direction. By not covering the pro-Palestinian perspective or why some might be critical of Dokoupil's conduct in good faith, it inaccurately portrays those positions. It's an article that pushes readers towards an opinion on an issue while largely omitting and deliberately misconstruing by implication the alternative one.

October 11, 2024

California Insanity: Commission Rejects Space Force Plan for SpaceX Launches Because Elon Musk Supports Trump

Why Troubling News:

The headline asserts that Elon Musk's political positions is the main reason a California Commission rejected a Space Force Plan for SpaceX launches, when the linked Politico article it's pulling from (and the actual article itself) reveals a much more nuanced situation involving a variety of issues, with major points of contention involving the military's request to exempt SpaceX from obtaining their own permits, and the military not committing to conditions to protect the environment and public access to the coast. The language used in the headline seeks to get readers to form a quick impression on the situation that's stripped of all nuance, and also an inaccurate evaluation of it.

October 11, 2024

A big difference between the two campaigns: Heavyweight surrogates

Why Troubling News:

This article shows atleast some liberal bias in the writing of the piece. The title starts off by saying that there is a big difference between the the two campaigns of who is backing each candidate for presidency. The article mentions that the only person hitting the campaign trail for Trump is his son while Harris has a lot more people. The way it is written seems to be making fun of the fact that the only person for Trump is his son. Also, that the more people are large names in the political field including Barack Obama. The article makes a big deal of the fact that Obama is campaigning for Harris and Walz while there is not some one of that stature for Trump. The article also ends with saying that the Trump campaign and the RNC cannot compete with that number of people showing up for Harris and Walz.

October 11, 2024

ICYMI: Biden Didn’t Take FEMA Relief Money to Use On Migrants — But Trump Did

Why Troubling News:

This article is shows a liberal bias. Just the first couple of sentences utilizes syntax that is biased against Trump: “He still appears to have little clue” and “What’s even richer”. There is a mocking and sarcastic tone being utilized, without providing a counter argument or the other side in order to establish a balanced perspective

October 11, 2024

ICYMI: Biden Didn’t Take FEMA Relief Money to Use On Migrants — But Trump Did

Why Troubling News:

This article is shows a liberal bias. Just the first couple of sentences utilizes syntax that is biased against Trump: “He still appears to have little clue” and “What’s even richer”. There is a mocking and sarcastic tone being utilized, without providing a counter argument or the other side in order to establish a balanced perspective

October 10, 2024

No, The Government Is Not Controlling The Weather: “It’s So Stupid, It’s Got To Stop,” Biden Says

Why Troubling News:

This news is troubling to me because of the blatant misinformation meant to cause distrust and fear in people who easily believe in what they hear. As someone from North Carolina, I'm absolutely confused and shocked at the rumors about the federal government being able to control the weather - specifically Hurricane Helene - so that they can bulldoze Chimney Rock and mine for Lithium there. What? In addition, there is apparently speculation that the government is controlling the weather to specifically hit more Republican areas. What? It just astounds me that there is so much misinformation like this out there, and that people believe it. I appreciate the President taking the time to dispel these rumors and pledge his support for hurricane recovery efforts.

October 9, 2024

Kamala Harris is unable to answer basic questions on ‘60 Minutes’

Why Troubling News:

The Op-Ed does little more than to cherry pick at Mrs. Harris' answers and try to paint her in an antagonistic light. The language and formatting displayed comes across as petty and childish, but what truly bothers me is that one of the article's arguments is how none of the questions or answers were surprising or gotchas. I feel its expected for interviews with politicians to have answers from previous interviews, so this criticism holds almost no water. The article could've made the argument that she didn't elaborate or even give a different POV on her plans or answers, but the article didn't.

October 5, 2024

Kamala Harris Shoves the Migrant Border Crisis in Trump’s Face

Why Troubling News:

First off, this article is biased, second, it is trying to frame the issue as if the entire border issue currently is Donald Trump's fault. However, The Daily Beast fails to mention that the White House and the Vice President DOES have the unilateral authority to declare a state of emergency and deploy troops along the border. But they don't, I wonder why?

October 4, 2024

Vance’s refusal to answer if Trump lost 2020 election ‘moment of the night’: MSNBC host

Why Troubling News:

It reports on an MSNBC segment where panelists, including Nicole Wallace and Rachel Maddow, criticized Senator J.D. Vance for not answering whether he believes Trump lost the 2020 election during a debate. They labeled his non-answer as a significant moment, suggesting it undermined his performance. It shows liberal bias, highlighting the panelists' mockery without offering a balanced perspective. It simplifies Vance’s political career by implying it solely stems from Trump’s actions. Additionally, the claim that Vance is the "first vice presidential candidate in history who doesn’t know who lost the last election" is misleading, because it lacks context about his candidacy.

October 3, 2024

Debate revealed Tim Walz to be a fraud ‘everyman’ — and a lightweight

Why Troubling News:

This is yet another attempt to make Tm Walz look bad and paint an unfavorable portrait of him. The language ranges from childish to cartoony, attacking Walz for mostly petty things, which even harmed situations where the reader had a valid point, such as how Waltz responded to a question about a lie he told. Most of all, the article is guilty of trying to spread to rumor that Walz lied about his military history, when light research uncovers that he did in fact serve as a coast guard. This is a blatant lie served solely to instill mistrust amongst the population against him.

September 30, 2024

Pittsburgh Eatery Denies Vance Entrance, But Hosted Harris in August

Why Troubling News:

The article is biased in favor of Vance. It praises his behavior in the situation twice, stating that he "handled the situation well" and "handled it perfectly." The author also includes only quotes that speak negatively of Harris's visit to Primanti Bros., such as the following: “Holy hell, all these actors in these vans."

September 30, 2024

California Blinks: Governor Newsom Vetoes AI Bill Aimed at Catastrophic Harms

Why Troubling News:

The article is biased against AI. This is first seen in the title, which emphasizes how AI could cause "catastrophic harms". Then, the author includes a quote stating, "The question is, are we going to allow large AI models to make it even easier and smoother for people to do things like shut down the electric grid or build a chemical weapon? It’s not science fiction at all.” The author uses a quote that emphasizes the risks of AI, without including any from those who are in support of it. The author ends the article with this quote: “Existing laws didn’t anticipate the AI era, and so there are lots of gaps in those laws. We don’t really have clarity about what to do about copyright. We don’t have clarity about what to do with machines when they go out of control in some way.” Again, the author emphasizes the dangers of AI without including any benefits.