Blindspot Report
Week of October 7 -13
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 right, you likely didn't hear that the DOJ was a driving force behind President Trump's child separation policy. And if your politics bend to the left, you probably didn’t hear that one of the arrested suspects in the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Whitmer, previously posted that Trump was an "enemy" and a "tyrant".
This Week's Blindspots
Blindspot for the Right: White House turns down offers from CDC to help investigate the outbreak surrounding President Donald Trump's Covid-19 diagnosis, according to a federal health official. There has been little clarity about how the White House is contact tracing those who may have been exposed at a string of events. Coverage Distribution: 8% Right Left 67% Center 25% 8%  
Blindspot for the Left: Texas mayoral candidate arrested on 109 felony counts of voter fraud Zul Mirza Mohamed, who is running for Mayor in Carrollton, Texas, allegedly sent 84 applications for 85 mail-in ballots, which were later found at his residence, investigators said. Coverage Distribution: 14% Left 14% 5% Right 81%  
Something new we'd like to recommend this week : Heterodox Academy: Great Minds Don't Always Think Alike Heterodox Academy (HxA) is a non-partisan, non-profit group of over 4,000 educators, administrators, and students committed to improving the quality of research and education by increasing open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement. Membership is free and open to faculty, staff, and administrators in higher education and K-12 institutions, undergraduate and graduate students, and employees of organizations serving higher education. Those not eligible for membership are invited to join as Friends of HxA. Click here to learn more about how to get involved and the benefits of membership. 
Blindspot for the Left: Whitmer plot suspect Brandon Caserta is an anarchist who hates 'enemy' Trump: 'He's a tyrant' One of the suspects in a plot to kidnap and kill Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is an anarchist who called President Trump an “enemy” and a “tyrant.” Coverage Distribution: 8% Left 8% 9% Right 83%  
Blindspot for the Right: ‘We Need to Take Away Children,’ No Matter How Young, Justice Dept. Officials Said Top department officials were “a driving force” behind President Trump’s child separation policy, a draft investigation report said. Coverage Distribution: 9% Right Left 70% 21% 9%  
Blindspot for the Left: Japan coast guard says Chinese vessels sail near disputed East China Sea islands Japan’s Coast Guard said on Sunday that two Chinese vessels entered what Japan considers its territorial waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea. Coverage Distribution: 14% Left 14% 15% Right 71%  
Blindspot for the Right: Facebook Will Ban Holocaust Denial Posts Under Hate Speech Policy Facebook announced that it is revising its hate speech policy to include content that “denies or distorts the Holocaust,” a major shift for the platform, which has repeatedly come under fire for its inaction on hateful and false information. Coverage Distribution: 0% Right Left 72% Center 28%  
Split Reporting
Highlighting discrepancies between the reporting on stories across different news outlets. This week's story:
Second day of hearings for the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the US Supreme Court
What do the different news outlets focus on when reporting on this story?
Politico:
Barrett
evades Democrats' questions
on Obamacare, abortion
ABC Australia:
Amy Coney Barrett
fails to answer early questions
on Obamacare and abortion
United Press International:
Amy Coney Barrett
refuses to share views on Roe vs. Wade abortion case
on Roe vs. Wade abortion case
Radio.com:
Amy Coney Barrett
dodges questions
on hot-button issues
The Daily Wire:
Barrett Frustrates Feinstein
With Response To Repeated Roe v. Wade Questions
The Daily Wire:
Amy Coney Barrett Is
Following the Ginsburg Rule on Abortion and Obamacare.
Dems Can't Stand It
If you were forwarded this email and would like to receive the Ground News Blindspot report in your inbox each Tuesday evening, please subscribe here.
If you would like to support us you can subscribe on our mobile app or web app here:
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.
|