By Ava Cole ‘22, Staff Writer

Nearly 60 percent of Americans stop reading the news after they’ve read the headlines. As a result, many form opinions on complex and multifaceted issues with a single phrase. In the modern day, our sources of news are often from the internet or from the T.V. However, the two most watched news channels in the U.S are also two biased channels: CNN leans to the left, and Fox tends to report through a conservative lens. This partiality is especially clear through their choice of headlines. Although it is sometimes subtle, the way CNN and Fox impose their bias on current events through tactical wording of headlines has a huge impact on their viewers’ opinions.

A recent example of headline bias is the news coverage following a hurricane in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Trump took to Twitter to criticize the mayor of San Juan’s leadership skills – both CNN and Fox reported the story. CNN’s headline reads “Trump’s New Twitter Target: San Juan’s Mayor,” while Fox’s headline says “San Juan Mayor in Hurricane Spotlight after Trump Tweets.” By just glancing at the headlines like most Americans, one would assume Trump was unfairly criticizing the mayor  based off the CNN report. The phrase “New Twitter Target”also reveals that Trump has bashed people over Twitter before. CNN wants its viewers to view this negatively, thereby generating disapproval for Trump. On the contrary, the Fox news headline does not say anything about the nature of Trump’s tweets, but simply says the tweets put the San Juan mayor in the “spotlight.” By seeing this headline, one would not immediately think Trump had “targeted” the mayor. In fact, one may even be led to believe he had said nice things about her. While these new articles may not have been “breaking news,” the clear bias of CNN and Fox leads people to form polarized opinions about the President of the United States.

Another example is the coverage of Betham Shem Jean, a man who was killed after a Dallas police officer accidentally entered his apartment, believing it was her own. The first line of CNN’s article reads “Amber Guyger, who is white, was off-duty when she shot Jean, a black man, after mistakenly entering his apartment at the complex where she also lived, police said Thursday.” Fox’s first line says “Dallas police officer Amber Guyger says she entered Botham Shem Jean’s apartment by mistake at end of her shift; Casey Stegall reports.” CNN chose to include the race of both the victim and the shooter, implying the notion that racial prejudice was a cause of this tragedy. Unlike CNN, Fox does not include this detail, and instead focused more on the fact that the shooting was unintentional. If a person were to look at the CNN news coverage, they would be inclined to sympathize with the victim, because they would believe a racist cop was to blame for the shooting. On the other hand, if a person were to take a glance at the first line of the Fox article, they would not know the race of either persons and would possibly forgive the policewoman for making a mistake.

It is crucial that people understand the presence of media bias and how headlines are designed to allow media companies to encourage their political beliefs on viewers through their word choice and language. CNN and Fox have undoubtedly contributed to the extreme polarization between Democrats and Republicans through their communication of clear, strong opinions in their headlines and their awareness that more than half of Americans will only read that one phrase. Democrats who follow CNN are more likely to express the left-leaning views CNN shares through articles and news segments, and Republicans who follow Fox also form their opinions based on Fox’s conservative bias. Because they are only hearing one side of the story, both parties are pulled further to the extremes of their ideologies. It is important to recognize the political ideals these news channels are trying to force on Americans, and remember that there is always more to a topic than just one news headline.