TIL comparing two news outlets side-by-side on the same story is eye-opening

I took a local story about a school board vote and read coverage from both Fox and MSNBC yesterday. The difference wasn't just spin, one left out a key quote from a parent that changed the whole tone. Has anyone else tried this with their local paper vs a national site?

3 comments

3 Comments

iris_schmidt6d ago

Totally agree with you both. I did the exact same thing with a story about a city council budget fight. One site made it sound like everyone was furious and the other said it was mostly civil with a few loud voices. @casey818 nailed it, two different planets. The scariest part is when you fact check something you actually know about. I caught a national site flat out reversing the order of events in a story. Made the mayor look bad when the timeline they printed was backwards. You start wondering how many other stories they flipped around.

casey8186d ago

Start reading Fox and MSNBC side by side and you'll feel like they're covering two different planets... It's wild how one site can just ghost a quote that changes everything. Guess the truth depends on which news anchor you trust more.

pat_murray536d ago

Wait, they actually left out a whole quote that changed the meaning of the story? That's insane, I assumed they just added their own spin but not flat out delete stuff. I tried it with a story about a local zoning fight and one site didn't even mention the crowd was yelling at the mayor.