3 ms·

They're less biased than most sources, but there are little things that are easy to notice. The Associated Press in 2015: "BREAKING: Obama sends $4 trillion sp

by ggreer 6y ago

They're less biased than most sources, but there are little things that are easy to notice. The Associated Press in 2015: "BREAKING: Obama sends $4 trillion spending plan to Congress, pledging help for middle class."[1] The Associated Press in 2018: "BREAKING: President Trump sends Congress $4.4 trillion spending plan that features soaring deficits."[2] If a news organization put "soaring deficits" in the Obama headline and "helping the middle class" in the Trump headline, I'd definitely call that right-wing bias. 1. https://twitter.com/AP/status/562287489365594112 https://twitter.com/AP/status/562287489365594112 2. https://twitter.com/AP/status/963088143527436288 https://twitter.com/AP/status/963088143527436288

maxerickson 6y ago
Obama, proposing $2 trillion in new taxes, ~$500 billion in annual deficits going forward: https://apnews.com/article/97f7a140f39a43d0995587be61ed388f https://apnews.com/article/97f7a140f39a43d0995587be61ed388f Trump proposing tax cuts and ~$1 trillion in annual deficits going forward: https://apnews.com/article/e50aec4820da4e30aed4bea9ff440e86 https://apnews.com/article/e50aec4820da4e30aed4bea9ff440e86 The plans differ considerably in substance, your comparison speciously treats them as similar or the same. And even more, Obama sent a wishlist to a hostile Congress. Trump got more of what he wanted.
bleepblorp 6y ago
It's not clear why these choices in phraseology constitute bias when Obama's 2015 budget featured a deficit of 2.45% of GDP[0] while Trump's 2018 budget featured a deficit of 3.8% of GDP[1]. Factually speaking, Trump did blow up the deficit, and failing to report that, instead of reporting it, would be indicative of bias. Budgets requested by Republican vs Democratic administrations are different as the parties have different spending and taxation priorities. Reporting budgets without acknowledging that the parties are spending/borrowing/taxing in different areas would be a lie. Printing news stories that make Republicans look bad is not indicative of bias if those stories are, as is usually the case, factually true. The solution to this problem is not to complain about media bias but rather for the Republican party to do fewer things that look bad. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_United_States_federal_budget https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_United_States_federal_bud... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_United_States_federal_budget https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_United_States_federal_bud...
- ggreer 6y ago
  Your years are off by one. Obama proposed the 2016 budget in 2015 and Trump proposed the 2019 budget in 2018. Though if you look up the numbers for those years, they're pretty similar. I would agree with you, except the AP didn't criticize Obama's deficit increases compared to Bush. Pick a non-recession year in the Bush administration (like 2007[1]) and you'll see deficit spending half that of Obama's. That's despite wasting tons of money (and lives) warring in the middle east. I don't want to go all "both sides" here. One side is certainly more worthy of criticism than the other. But considering the fraction of journalists who are on the left, it's not surprising that an ostensibly unbiased organization can still have some leanings. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_States_federal_budget https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_States_federal_bud...

by ggreer 6y ago

maxerickson 6y ago

Obama, proposing $2 trillion in new taxes, ~$500 billion in annual deficits going forward: https://apnews.com/article/97f7a140f39a43d0995587be61ed388f https://apnews.com/article/97f7a140f39a43d0995587be61ed388f Trump proposing tax cuts and ~$1 trillion in annual deficits going forward: https://apnews.com/article/e50aec4820da4e30aed4bea9ff440e86 https://apnews.com/article/e50aec4820da4e30aed4bea9ff440e86 The plans differ considerably in substance, your comparison speciously treats them as similar or the same. And even more, Obama sent a wishlist to a hostile Congress. Trump got more of what he wanted.

bleepblorp 6y ago

It's not clear why these choices in phraseology constitute bias when Obama's 2015 budget featured a deficit of 2.45% of GDP[0] while Trump's 2018 budget featured a deficit of 3.8% of GDP[1]. Factually speaking, Trump did blow up the deficit, and failing to report that, instead of reporting it, would be indicative of bias. Budgets requested by Republican vs Democratic administrations are different as the parties have different spending and taxation priorities. Reporting budgets without acknowledging that the parties are spending/borrowing/taxing in different areas would be a lie. Printing news stories that make Republicans look bad is not indicative of bias if those stories are, as is usually the case, factually true. The solution to this problem is not to complain about media bias but rather for the Republican party to do fewer things that look bad. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_United_States_federal_budget https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_United_States_federal_bud... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_United_States_federal_budget https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_United_States_federal_bud...

ggreer 6y ago
Your years are off by one. Obama proposed the 2016 budget in 2015 and Trump proposed the 2019 budget in 2018. Though if you look up the numbers for those years, they're pretty similar. I would agree with you, except the AP didn't criticize Obama's deficit increases compared to Bush. Pick a non-recession year in the Bush administration (like 2007[1]) and you'll see deficit spending half that of Obama's. That's despite wasting tons of money (and lives) warring in the middle east. I don't want to go all "both sides" here. One side is certainly more worthy of criticism than the other. But considering the fraction of journalists who are on the left, it's not surprising that an ostensibly unbiased organization can still have some leanings. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_States_federal_budget https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_States_federal_bud...