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Jesse Koepke

  • Practicing Media Literacy: Trump and Biden trial verdicts

    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.

  • Books I Read in 2023

    Books I Read in 2023

    Where did the year go? I could have sworn it was January yesterday, and my wife and I were finding out we were pregnant with our fourth.

    I suppose that might have something to do with it.

    Despite a growing family and 3 other kids to chase, I managed to read more books than I expected.

    I managed to find a couple good fiction books (rare for me lately) and of course more business and family books. But more on that later.

    So without further ado, here are the books I read in 2023.

    1. 1/7: Let Her Lead, by Brady Boyd
    2. 2/25: Endless Stream of Referrals, by Donnie Boivin
    3. 3/22: Writing great characters in the first 10 pages, by Frank Catalano
    4. 3/15: Getting Things Done, by David Allen (not technically done, but close enough)
    5. 4/16: A Book a Week, by Kate Hall
    6. 4/26: Blue Ocean Strategy, by W. Chan Kim (stopped when it got to management strategy and big companies)
    7. 5/10: How to get paid for what you know, by Graham Cochrane
    8. 5/19: How to outline cozy mystery, by Sara Rosett
    9. 6/10: The Automatic Customer, by John Warrilow (skipped a little find applicable sections)
    10. 7/15: Business for the Glory of God, by Wayne Grudham
    11. 8/4: The Five marks of a man, by Brian Tome
    12. 8/7: You have what it takes, by John Eldredge
    13. 8/23: The 7AM Workout Edge, by Anthony Arvanitakis
    14. 9/14: The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book, by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves
    15. 10/19: Sheet Music, by Kevin Leman
    16. 11/12: Win at Work and Succeed at Life, by Michael Hyatt
    17. 12/14: The Lost Metal, by Brandon Sanderson
    18. The Atlantis Prophecy, by Thomas Greanias

    Favorite Books

    Fiction

    I’ve been reading fantasy for most of my life and I seem to be running out of books to read (which is why I’m writing my own series). So the past couple of years I’ve been trying new genres. I came across The Atlantis prophecy at a used bookstore and it was a fun ride. I’m looking forward to reading more in that series.

    The best fiction by far that I read this year, though, was Sanderson’s The Lost Metal.

    I’m going to be honest. I’m 25% of the way through Rhythm of War and I’ve lost interest. I was starting to wonder if Sanderson had lost his touch.

    But boy oh boy, does he still got it. Metal has incredible character journeys and the best written action scenes in the entire Mistborn series, much less any fantasy I’ve read. I cannot believe how good this book was. If this is where Sanderson is at, I’m going to push through on Rhythm.

    Business

    As a husband, father, and business owner, Michael Hyatt’s book Win at work and succeed at life was a vital read for me. I appreciate for he pointed out that people either throttle back God-given ambition or sacrifice your most important relationships. Win gave a framework for how to win at both. I think I already need to re-read this one.

    Wayne Grudem’s Business for the glory of God was the best breakdown of what the Bible says about money and business I’ve ever read. I realized hour many wrong beliefs I have, and how much God loves bless us and others through business.

    Family/Personal

    As a husband and father to three daughters, Let Her Lead, Billy Boyd’s look at women in the Bible and ministry, was a solid overview. He stops short of advocating for women to preach (by omission more than explicit statement), but it’s a short book that addresses the few verses used by some to argue against women. As a member of Boyd’s church, I appreciated that this is my pastor’s view.

    Men often point to Wild At Heart as the best book on masculinity. Where John Eldredge’s book is a treaty on vision, Brian Tome’s Five Marks of a Man is the practical application. I haven’t read a book this good on being a man in years. I immediately bought a print copy (I listened to it, read perfectly and expressively by the author) and I want to give it to ask the men I know. I’ll also bring rereading for myself and my son as he grows up.

    Reading in 2024

    As always, I want to get better at retention and application. I’ve been developing my notes system in Notion, so perhaps that will help.

    I’d also like to read more in my Kindle. It’s funny, I’ve had a Kindle for so long (15+ years?) that it’s a nostalgic thing for me to use.

    The biggest change I’d like to do is read new books. For a few more I’ve been frustrated when I got to used bookstores; I rarely find books I want.

    When I expressed that to my wife, she said, “You need to buy new books.” 😳 I’ve never done this, for many reasons read to money (see Grudem’s book above). But by golly I think she’s right.

    So I’ve joined the Barnes & Noble membership and am planning to buy a new book maybe once a month. First up: Murtagh, by Christopher Paolini.

    Best of reading in 2024!

  • Creating a fantasy world

    Creating a fantasy world

    When I decided to write a series about a scavenger searching for treasure, I knew the story would need an expansive world. Not just in size, but ethnicities, nationalities, biomes, geographical features, and on and on.

    I hoped to emulate features from two of my favorite series:

    • The continuous discovery of Harry Potter. Even in the last book he is learning new things about the wizard of world
    • The buried history of Lord of the Rings. References in the books and moss-covered ruins in the movies draw you to wonder.

    To accomplish the first, the maps are small and limited in The Key of Taculon, the first book in the series. As the characters explore, their understanding of world expands with them.

    To accomplish the second, I needed to bury history for them to find. I’ve drawn a lot of inspiration for Egypt—not in architecture, culture, or location, but how pyramids and temples and all sorts of things were buried in sand for 4,000 years. I mean come on! How cool must it have been to dig out things buried for millennia? That’s the feeling I wanted to capture with this series.

    Geography

    Being from the Rocky Mountains in Montana, geographical features are important for me. The green-blue of pine trees at a distance; the fog that hangs over mountain peaks in the morning; the crisp air of fall and spring—I wanted to set my story predominantly in a place similar to northern United States.

    Moving southwest, the land dries out into red rocks and desert similar to Zion National Park. The humid swamps of southern United States lead to the cold east coast waters, progressing further south into the jungles and unexplored reaches like the vast stretches of South America.

    These are the places most familiar to me, from where I’ve lived to nations I’ve visited. I wanted to explore what that would look like in a fantasy setting, so that became my main continents to begin the story.

    Ethnicities

    In all my other fantasy writing, I’ve avoided the typical elves, dwarves, etc. This time I wanted to populate my stories with these, but in new ways.

    So this series has three main races:

    • Elves
    • Dwarves
    • Humans

    These are iconic characters in fantasy, and with that comes a lot of stereotypes. I wanted my series to feel familiar, yet with a fresh take. So my races are different, both in their personalities and also the power structure in the world. I’ll delve more into that in a later post.

    Creating a fantasy world is always a massive undertaking. There are thousands of years of history to discover, and the series will reveal this over time. I’m excited for you to discover it along with the characters!

  • Books I read in 2022

    Books I read in 2022

    2022 brought with a mix of business and time management, and just one book of fiction. I’ve been in a bit of a rut for fiction, so that number has dwindled over recent years. I did find that I’m enjoying reading historical books.

    1. 1/17: Predictable Success, by Les McKeown
    2. 3/3: Anything You Can Image: Peter Jackson & the Making of Middle-Earth, by Ian Nathan
    3. 3/5: The Marvel Studios Story, by Stephanie and Charlie Wetzel
    4. 6/23: Time Management in 20 minutes a day, by Holly Reisem Hanna
    5. 7/25: Refuse to be Done, by Matt Bell
    6. 7/29: Writing Vivid Settings, by Wayne Hall
    7. 7/30: Grace over Grind, by Shae Bynes
    8. 8/2: The Fine Art of Small Talk, by Debra Fine
    9. 8/8: Warm Email Prospecting, by Ed Gandia
    10. 8/22: Summary of Blair Enns’ Winning Without Pitching Manifesto
    11. 8/25: The Accidental President, by A. J. Baine
    12. 8/27: Generating Business Referrals Without Asking, by Stacey Brown Randall
    13. 9/10: The Money Nerve, by Robert Wheeler
    14. 9/14: Find More Money, by Art Rainer (skipped over the middle portion)
    15. 9/23: The Cold Email Manifesto, by Robert Indries and Alex Berman (stopped when they got to team outreach)
    16. 10/10: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by JK Rowling (I actually stopped 50 pages from the end because we watched the movie and it’s a fair bit different than the book.)
    17. 10/14: How to write fast, by Sean Platt and Neeve Silver
    18. 11/07: Speed Reading, Ryan James
    19. 12/18: How to turn down a billion dollars, the Snapchat story, by Billy Gallagher

    So without further ado, here’s what I read in 2022.

    Favorite Books

    Anything you can imagine

    This is the definitive account of how the Lord of the Rings movies were made. At some point I realized the book was going to go day by day through the production—and I decided I was ok with that. It was fascinating on multiple levels: as a huge fan of the books and films, as a fantasy writer, and as an editor/film person.

    The Marvel Studios Story

    I’m also a huge fan of Marvel and Disney, so this short book was a lovely read after my wife gave it to me for Christmas. It stopped short of the final awe-inspiring Phase 3 and conclusive avengers films, so now in my list is Joanna Robinson’s book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios.

    The Accidental President

    As a screenwriter looking for great stories, I’m finding the corners of history to be fascinating. I heard a mention about Harry Truman’s first few months as president and found Baine’s book on the subject. There was so much more to the story than I imagined, and I loved every bit of it.

    Generating Business Referrals Without Asking

    As a small business owner, I often rely on referrals from happy customers. Randall’s approach was simple, non-intrusive, and best of all showed how to do it without asking for favors.

  • Books I read in 2021

    Books I read in 2021

    I know, I know. I’m almost 3 years late to this one. But as we all know, 2021 was the recovery year from COVID, so things got busy.

    At the same time, I read a few influential books that I still think about all these years later.

    So without further ado, here’s what I read in 2021.

    1. 1/18/21: The E-Myth Revisited, by Michael E. Gerber
    2. 1/30/21: Get to the Point!, by Joel Schwartzberg
    3. 3/23/21: King Solomon’s Mines, by H.Rider Haggard
    4. 5/2/21: The Fall of Reach, by Eric S. Nylund
    5. 6/21/21: Sacred Marriage, by Gary Thomas
    6. 7/23/21: We Need to Hang Out, by Billy Baker
    7. 7/26/21: I will teach you to be rich, by Ramit Sethi
    8. 8/6/21: The million-dollar, one-person business, by Elaine Pirfeld
    9. 8/9/21: Shorter, by Alex Soojung- Kim Pang (didn’t finish, but felt I got what I needed)
    10. 8/15/21: What the Most Successful People Do at Work, by Laura Vanderkam
    11. 9/3/21: The Pumpkin Plan, by Mike Michalowicz
    12. 9/4/21: What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend, by Laura Vanderkam
    13. 10/8/21: Free to Focus, by Michael Hyatt
    14. 11/6/21: How to Defeat a Demon King in 10 Easy Steps, by Andrew Rowe
    15. 12/18/21: The Hard Thing About Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz (60%)
    16. 12/26/21: The Ride of a Lifetime, by Bob Iger

    Favorite Books

    E-Myth Revisited

    No book has been more influential in how I run my business than this one. I love processes and systems, so Michael Gerber’s approach is right up my alley. Most businesses are started by technicians, and this book helps you lift your head up to think of the other aspects of running a business.

    How to Defeat a Demon King in 10 Easy Steps

    Fiction has been hard for me to get into lately, but Andrew Rowe’s book was a breeze. If you love fantasy, or have playing fantasy role-playing video games, there is some great humor in here for you.

    The Ride of Lifetime

    Bob Iger’s story of his career and decision making as CEO of one of the biggest entertainment companies in the world is fascinating. And as a huge Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar fan, it was really cool to hear about the process of buying those companies.

Hello,

I’m Jesse

Reading, writing, fantasy, adventure, movies—it’s all been my favorite since I was 8 years old. If you enjoy reading fantasy, adventure fiction, and screenwriting, then you’re in the right place!

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