Story topics in early coverage of Biden differed more than for Trump across media outlet groups | Pew Research Center

April 27, 2021

1. News coverage of Biden’s early days in office varied across outlet groups, with more focus on policy agenda than leadership, character

Story topics in early coverage of Biden differed more than for Trump across media outlet groups

Story topics in early coverage of Biden differed more than for Trump across media outlet groups

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Story topics in early coverage of Biden differed more than for Trump across media outlet groups

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1. News coverage of Biden’s early days in office varied across outlet groups, with more focus on policy agenda than leadership, character
Five topics accounted for two-thirds of all coverage of the early days of the Biden administration
News outlets with right-leaning audiences focused most heavily on immigration at about twice the rate of other media outlet groups
Most news stories in Biden’s first 60 days in office referenced COVID-19 in some way
News outlets with right-leaning audiences less likely to mention COVID-19 in Biden coverage
Story topics in early coverage of Biden differed more than for Trump across media outlet groups
News stories in Biden’s first 60 days offered somewhat more negative than positive assessments
Stories from news outlets with right-leaning audiences were most likely to offer a negative assessment of Biden
Early coverage of Biden and Trump administrations was more negative than positive – to a greater degree for Trump
Across all outlet types, most news stories focused on the Biden administration’s policy agenda rather than on leadership and character
How framing of stories differed between the early days of Biden and Trump administrations
Immigration and political skills stories were much more likely to have a negative than positive assessment of Biden
Stories framed around the Biden administration’s leadership and character more likely to have negative assessments than stories about policy agenda
For both Biden and Trump, tone of early media coverage differed widely by media outlet type