Blindspot Report

Week of August 25 - September 1

The weekly Blindspot Report from Ground News puts a spotlight on news that publications from one side of the political spectrum or the other had little to no reporting on.

If your politics lean left, you likely didn't hear that over half the people arrested in the Kenosha, Wisconsin protests are from out of state. And if your politics bend to the right, you probably didn’t hear that a few of those arrested in Kenosha are Seattle volunteers in town to deliver free meals to the protesters.

Something new we'd like to recommend this week:

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This Week's Blindspots

Blindspot for the Left:

Over Half of Arrested Kenosha Rioters From Out of Town A statement issued by the Kenosha local police department stated that 102 out of 175 suspects hail from 44 other cities. Coverage Distribution: 12% Left 12% 17% Right 71%

Blindspot for the Right:

Kenosha Police arrest volunteer group providing free meals to protesters Riot Kitchen, a Seattle based volunteer group was arrested by local police in Kenosha where the group had come to feed protesters in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting. Coverage Distribution: 0% Right Left 71% Center 29%

Blindspot for the Left:

Turkey gave Hamas members passports, Israel says Turkey has given passports to a dozen Hamas members in Istanbul, a senior Israeli diplomat said on Wednesday, describing the move as "a very unfriendly step" which his government would raise with Turkish officials. Coverage Distribution: 0% Left Center 29% Right 71%

Blindspot for the Right:

UK Far-right activists create series of videos to expose asylum seekers in hotels Anger is mounting over a series of videos posted by far-right organisations in which activists enter hotels where asylum seekers are being held, knock on their doors to interrogate them and accuse them of wasting taxpayers’ money. Coverage Distribution: 25% Right Left 63% 12% Right 25%

Blindspot for the Left:

Philadelphia Mayor Who Banned Indoor Dining Caught on Camera Dining Indoors It was not clear who originally took the photo, which the mayor’s office confirmed was taken Sunday at Chesapeake Inn Restaurant & Marina in Chesapeake City. But it quickly spread on social media. Coverage Distribution: 21% Left Left 21% Right 79%

Blindspot for the Right:

Twitter flags Republican leader’s video as ‘manipulated’ for altering disabled activist’s words Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), the House Minority Whip, was caught sharing a doctored video of a disabled man with Lou Gehrig’s disease (or ALS) in an attempt to attack Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Words were spliced into the "deep fake" to alter the question asked by the man to Joe Biden. Rep. Scalise has since taken down his post. Coverage Distribution: 14% Right Left 71% 15% 14%

Split Reporting

Highlighting discrepancies between the reporting on stories across different news outlets. This week's story:

Democrat Data Firm Prediction: Trump Wins on Election Night, Biden Wins after Mail-in Ballots counted

What do the different news outlets focus on when reporting on this story?

New York Magazine: An Election Night ‘Red Mirage’ Is a Nightmare for Democrats

The Federalist: Leftist Group Funded By Bloomberg Warns Trump Won't Accept Election Results

Vanity Fair: Democrats Fear Trump May Declare Victory on Election Night— Before All the Votes Are Counted

The Independent: Analysts warn Trump could appear to have won on election night, only for him to lose days later

Newsmax: Bloomberg Group Says Trump Could Win Big Election Night, But Biden Still Becomes President

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Methodology

Ground News processes over 30,000 news articles each day. Articles from different news outlets covering the same news event are merged into a single story so subscribers can get all the perspectives in one view. Each article is labeled one of seven bias ratings (Far Left, Left, Leans Left, Center, Leans Right, Right, Far Right) based on the average bias rating of the publishing news outlet. All news outlet bias ratings are originally sourced from three non-profit news monitoring agencies (AllSides, Media Bias Fact Check, Ad Fontes Media).

The Blindspot Report is generated by evaluating the mean and standard deviation of the aggregate bias ratings of the week's top 100 (most covered and most read) stories. News stories with the greatest mean score (many more Right outlets than Left or vice versa) or the highest standard deviation of bias ratings (more coverage on fringes than Center) are selected for the Report.