00:00There's a pattern in how the news media covers President Trump's meetings with foreign leaders.
00:05News outlets that have a left and right political lean are not shying away from that bias.
00:11Instead, it's on full display in a bid to convince you whether the president did a good or bad job.
00:18It's as if these meetings with world leaders are scored like a sporting event,
00:22won or lost by the president. But since when did the news media become judges of high-profile
00:29meetings rather than just reporting on what happened? Welcome back to Bias Breakdown.
00:37President Trump met with China's President Xi Jinping during his visit to Asia,
00:41and it didn't take long for left and right networks to come up with their opposing takeaways,
00:47starting with criticism from MSNBC on the left.
00:52United States versus China, who backed down really? And the answer is America backed down or Trump backed
00:58down. This followed Trump's typical pattern. Several weeks before this summit meeting,
01:03he created a crisis in a failed effort to generate additional leverage.
01:07The world has now learned that when President Trump plays a game of chicken with powerful countries
01:12like China, they push back and shows that we're weak. But Fox News on the right offered praise.
01:19I think it was a huge success, and only President Trump could have pulled that off.
01:23By any definition, you've got to characterize a trip as successful. Xi is paying attention
01:27to what is happening across the globe and President Trump's influence in being the world's
01:34number one global leader by far. But the truth is, no president in American history
01:39has ever been this tough on China. It's not just cable networks putting their own spin
01:44on how the meeting went. But news articles are also strategic with their framing.
01:50These outlets on the left frame China as the winner, reporting China was the one walking away
01:56stronger and that the advantage and upper hand belonged to Xi Jinping. But headlines from news
02:03outlets on the right frame the meeting very positively in the United States favor, including quotes that
02:10deemed the meeting as amazing and a major accomplishment for Trump and portrayed China
02:15as opening their wallet for the U.S. ag industry. This story is an example of how the media spins
02:22a story into a political narrative, which is a form of media bias identified by media watchdog
02:29group All Sides. By definition, this type of bias is more broad because it often includes other forms
02:36of bias. Sometimes multiple types of bias can apply to a single story or even to the way a single
02:44sentence is framed. Media bias doesn't always fit neatly into just one category. It can look more like
02:51a Venn diagram with different biases overlapping and working together to shape how a story is told.
02:59Here's a quick example from a news analysis piece from the New York Times. A news analysis is separate
03:05from the news or opinion sections. It's supposed to add more context to the facts and provides the
03:12reporter with a bit more discretion in the wording they use. While the writer can provide more
03:18perspective in this sort of article, the piece should still be grounded in factual reporting and
03:24clearly signal when a statement is opinion. The New York Times first paragraph reads this way,
03:31When Xi Jinping walked out of his meeting with President Trump on Thursday, he projected the
03:36confidence of a powerful leader who could make Washington blink. The outcome of the talks suggested
03:44that he succeeded. This is an example of bias by sensationalism, using emotional and dramatic
03:51language like saying Xi Jinping could make Washington blink that adds a narrative flair to the facts.
03:58It also shows word choice bias. Calling Xi Jinping a powerful leader isn't attributed to anyone.
04:05It's the writer's own description. It's also biased by opinion statements presented as fact.
04:11The writer says the outcome of talks suggest Xi Jinping succeeded. That's an opinion. And again,
04:18not attributed to anyone, but rather just stated as fact. There are multiple forms of media bias,
04:24a textbook case of media spin. While these headlines and talking heads we've shown you so far emphasize
04:31whether the U.S. or China, Trump or Xi looked stronger or came out better, those are opinions.
04:39Here are some of the key facts of the deal, which is a temporary one-year trade truce,
04:43stated plainly in this clip from an NBC News report.
04:47On tariffs, President Trump reduced steep taxes on Chinese imports by 10 percent. In exchange,
04:54China will suspend restrictions on rare earth materials, work to reduce the flow of fentanyl to
05:00the U.S., and resume buying soybeans from American farmers.
05:04And the sticking point over soybeans has been a topic in the news for several weeks after China
05:10stopped buying those from the U.S. in a retaliatory move over Trump's tariffs. CBS News gave more on
05:17that. They're going to buy more soybeans, which has been an issue over the last several weeks because
05:21China instead was buying them from Argentina, which has been detrimental to farmers in the Midwest who've
05:27been growing soybeans on the expectation that China would be buying them. While stating the facts
05:31of the story and while offering context over the issue is important for journalists to do,
05:37there is a fine line between offering that sort of analysis compared to a report that adds political
05:44sway in the form of media spin to its story. But we see these biased tactics often in left and right
05:51media coverage of these meetings between world leaders. When Trump met with Putin in Alaska,
05:58the media took sides. Here's an example of a left outlet calling it a victory for Putin and a right
06:05outlet highlighting praise for Trump. Or the meeting between Trump and South Africa's president in the
06:11Oval Office, where Trump questioned the foreign leader over claims of genocide targeting white farmers
06:17in the country. Left-leaning NPR called it an ambush by Trump. Right-leaning The Daily Wire framed it as
06:24Trump confronting the leader. These word choices shape the audience's perception, portraying the actions
06:31either as hostile or as an assertion of U.S. power. And then one of the more high-profile Oval Office
06:38meetings came earlier this year during Zelensky's meeting with Trump in February, when the trip was
06:44cut short after a tense back and forth between the two. And media pundits from the left and right
06:51were quick to condemn either Trump or Zelensky. Once again, the media choosing a side and choosing how
06:58you should see the event. Now standing against our allies of the last 80 years, now siding with
07:04Russia instead. I mean, no longer siding with the free world, now siding with the authoritarian
07:10governments of the world. And maybe, as some have speculated, that show was some kind of
07:15premeditated ambush. Or maybe that show was just a big old gift to his pal Vladimir Putin. Maybe that
07:19was it. Have you ever seen a foreign leader come into America and talk this way? And everyone knows
07:25if Zelensky had come in, signed the deal, showed some gratitude. It would have gone a long way.
07:30We're not going to be disrespected. We will not be swindled. We will not be bullied. Today,
07:34the Ukrainian president, Zelensky, frankly, in many ways disgraced himself.
07:38Can you see the patterns or the similarities in how these meetings are covered? We often see an
07:44underlying theme by the partisan media in their coverage of these world stage events.
07:49Rather than just reporting the facts or key takeaways, the coverage by some news outlets
07:55is steeped in a political agenda, incorporating multiple forms of media bias, which is a key
08:02indication of media spin. And that's your bias breakdown.
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09:02hello. This week's episode came together really quickly. Things have been crazy around here,
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