Jesse Koepke

Everyone loves talking about how the news is biased.

Conservatives see the mainstream news as liars and in a large-scale collusion to hide the truth. Progressives see fundamentalism in conservative news sources.

There’s a middle group, the one I belong to, that wants centric news—call it as it is, don’t spin it or layer opinion on it. That’s hard to find so I tend to read multiple sources and build an aggregate perspective.

We are surrounded by news all day long, but how often do we critically analyze it? We need to recognize how words and images are being used so that we can be aware of biases or judgments.

That’s why, when the trials verdicts for Donald Trump and Hunter Biden were released, I immediately took screenshots of the top stories on major conservative and progressive sources.

I wanted to compare on each news source:

• The words used to announce the verdicts
• The images used to represent Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden

Mr. Trump was charged with falsifying business records in an attempt to sway the 2016 election. He was found guilty on May 30, 2024.

Mr. Biden was found guilty on June 11 of three felony counts involving a handgun he purchased in 2018.

Let’s see how their verdicts were presented.

Donald Trump Verdict

New York Times

5 words. All caps. As simple as you can get. Trump (the person) guilty (the verdict) on all counts (there were multiple, and he’s found guilty on all of them.)

They used a photo of Mr. Trump with a resigned, almost tired expression, with top lighting that casts his eyes in shadow.

CNN

CNN sticks with “Trump guilty”. But then it adds more detail: “34” counts. And they are “felony charges”. They highlight the number of counts and the type of charges.

They include a video with a thumbnail of Mr. Trump looking serious. The lighting is still top down, like the New York Times, but unlike the NYT this photo is wider, showing lawyers and police officers in the background, highlighting that Mr. Trump is in court.

Fox News

The headline from Fox News is considerably longer. Like CNN they include the number of counts. They don’t say “felony charges” though. The word guilty is still used.

Beyond that, they add a few details:

• The headline starts with Mr. Trump’s strong reaction: “Trump blasts”.
• Then they quote how he described the case: “rigged, disgraceful trial”
• Then they highlight “a jury finds him guilty”. New York City is historically progressive, so there has been doubt that a jury in NYC could be impartial
• Lastly they highlight “historic conviction”. A president has never been convicted of a federal crime before.

In all, “Trump is found guilty” is placed after Mr. Trump’s own reaction and sandwiched by other details (“jury”, historic”).

They also use a wider photo like CNN, but this one shows Mr. Trump’s face in better lighting. It also highlights people watching him, a crowd present as the former president walks away from a “historic conviction”.

National review

The National Review has a shorter headline than the New York Times. But it has nothing to do with the verdict. It only highlights their opinion about the trial itself.

They use a more active photo of Mr. Trump, one with better lighting that highlights his face and action of speaking. He’s placed next to Alvin Bragg, the judge for the trial, whose photo is also in action of speaking but with eyebrows upraised, which typically shows less aggression or certainty.

Newsmax

Newsmax starts with the verdict: “Trump’s guilty verdict”. But it’s mentioned in context to how the GOP donors (which is the average American) responded: “fires up GOP donors”.

They also include the line, “Strong polls help, too”. I understand this to mean that Mr. Trump’s strong polls have fired up donors as well.

Newsmax is using the guilty verdict to highlight the response of donors. Money is coming in. It also highlights Mr. Trump’s strong polls.

The photo they use adds to the strength: Trump is almost by himself, face defiant, fist raised, tie blowing in action.

One america news

In contrast to everyone else, One America News doesn’t lead with the guilty verdict. Their top and largest story is about a Chicago women and the police. The story quite sensational: the woman stole a cop car, dragged an officer, and hit 4 other cars. Even as I write this I want to find out more.

Below that eye-catching story is Mr. Trump’s verdict: “Jury finds Trump guilty on 34 counts”. Their headline is similar to the New York Times and CNN, with the exception that they start with “Jury finds”, highlighting the potentially biased jury of NYC citizens.

Unlike NYT or CNN, they continue on: “in so-called ‘hush money’ trial”. They describe what the trial was (in case readers didn’t know), and use the phrase “so-called”. This calls into doubt the nature of the trial and how it’s being framed.

The photo they use is of Mr. Trump with a serious expression, with lighting from the side instead of just the top. This casts most of his face into shadow.

---

If we summarize the headlines, we see:

• New York Times and CNN use a bare-bones, strong headline. Noun, verb, subject
• Fox News focuses on Mr. Trump’s reaction to the verdict and how this verdict has never happened before
• National Review and Newsmax focus on other aspects: it was rigged, donors are fired up, polls are strong
• OAN doesn’t highlight the story at all, and calls into doubt the nature of the trial
• Each also has a distinct image they use to portray Mr. Trump: defiant and strong, or downcast and shadowed

Having looked at the guilty verdict of Mr. Trump, a charged political figure that conservatives love and progressives hate, let’s turn the table.

Let’s now look at the guilty verdict of Hunter Biden, a charged (side) political figure that conservatives hate and progressives at least tangentially like (because he is the son of the current Democratic president).

---

Hunter Biden Verdict

New York TImes

The New York Times has almost the same headline as Trump, but with two added details.

First, they use “Hunter Biden” instead of only the last name, like they did for Mr. Trump. This is presumably because they need to differentiate between Bidens in the public sphere.

Second, they include the nature of the case: it was about guns.

The photo they use shows Mr. Biden in action, with a well-lit face, flanked by his wife and daughter hand in hand. This is in contrast to Mr. Trump’s photo, which was dark, face top-lit, and by himself. (Also, does he look like Steve Carrel in this photo or is that just me?)

CNN

CNN’s headline is almost word-for-word like the New York Times. They add “on all counts”. This highlights that there were multiple points in the trial and he was guilty in all of them.

There is also the additional text featured in bold below the image. Mr. Biden apparently “flashed his legal team a brief smile, perhaps stunned”. CNN highlights Mr. Biden’s good mood, and takes a guess at what he was feeling.

The photo they use is Mr. Biden alone, with a decently lit face (not well-lit, but not with deep shadows), his expression thoughtful. And most obviously, there are flowers behind him. Part of the image is blurred. It’s a very nice photo.

Fox news

Fox News mirrors CNN’s headlight almost word for word: “… Hunter Biden found guilty on all counts”. They merely leave off “in gun case”.

They do however start the headline with a difference focus: “Prosecution expected to speak…”. They highlight the prosecution, the lawyers who brought the case against Mr. Biden. We are going to hear from the prosecution, not Mr. Biden’s defense lawyers.

The photo they use is a stern looking photo of Mr. Biden, alongside a police photo of the gun in question.

National Review

The National Review again almost mirrors CNN word for word. They use “convicted” instead of “guilty”, and they highlight that it was a “federal gun trial”.

They also include text that highlights the potential sentence, while highlighting it’s likely he’ll get a liter sentence.

The photo they use is top-lit, with Mr. Biden’s eyes in shadow. His expression feels to me of apprehension, waiting to see what will happen. It’s also distinctly of him in the courtroom.

Newsmax

Newsmax mirrors the New York Times almost perfectly. They simply add “on all counts”.

The photo is similar to CNN’s: Mr. Biden is still in front of the flowers, only now his expression is more focused, his eyes slightly in more shadow, and he’s in action.

One America News

OAN did not feature the story. There was a small mention near the top, with text that highlights “more evidence”: there were “text messages to a drug dealer”.

The story finally gets a headline when I scrolled down, and again it highlights the evidence: “Evidence is ‘overwhelming’”.

The photo used here is decently lit, Mr. Biden looks focused, and he’s walking with his daughter hand in hand.

---

If we summarize these headlines, we see:

• All news sources highlight “guilty” and “convicted”
• All but one news source highlights “all counts”
• OAN highlights the “overwhelming” amount of evidence
• NYT and CNN use well-lit photos that highlight family and a beautiful backdrop

There is one thing no one mentions: this was also a jury trial.

While jury was frequently mentioned in Mr. Trump’s trial, I had to do an additional search to find out that it was in fact also a federal jury that found Mr. Biden guilty.

---

What can we learn from this?

News sources can report the same news, but frame it differently.

• They can use strong, definitive language like the New York Times (“Trump guilty on all counts”) or Newsmax (“Hunter Biden guilty on all counts”).
• They can surround the verdict with other language, like Fox News (“Trump blasts ‘rigged, disgraceful trial’ after jury finds him guilty” or “Prosecution expected to speak after Hunter Biden found guilty”)
• They can use darkly-lit photos with uncertain expressions that show the person alone (National Review), or they can use well-lit photos with pleased expressions that show the person surrounded by loving family (CNN).
• They can feature the story at the very top (Fox News) or down the page (OAN)
• They can use strong active words, like “Trump blasts”
• They can state the story in as few words as possible (NYT) or not even talk about the story (National Review)

For Mr. Trump’s verdict, NYT and CNN strongly stated he was guilty. In contrast, Fox News, National Review, Newsmax, and OAN either surrounded the verdict with other details or didn’t talk about it at all.

For Mr. Biden’s verdict, almost all news sources strongly stated he was guilty. Only OAN didn’t highlight the story (althought when they did talk about it, they highlighted the “overwhelming” amount of evidence).

No matter what news source you read, pay attention to:

• The words they used
• The images they used
• The way a sentence is phrased

All these factors reveal our inherent biases, and the direction a news source wants to point us.

In an age when there are thousands of headlines coming at us each day, media literacy has never been more important.