Blindspot Report

Week of Feb 3-9

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 probably didn’t hear that the Pentagon will spend nearly half a billion dollars to keep the National Guard deployed at the US Capitol through mid-March. And if your politics bend to the right, you likely didn't hear that India is gearing up its capital with iron spikes, steel barricades and riot police against farmers who have been protesting for two months.

This Week's Blindspots

Blindspot for the Left:

Cost of National Guard mission to protect U.S. Capitol estimated at $483 million Deploying National Guard troops at the U.S. Capitol after it was stormed last month will cost about $483 million, the government estimated Monday. The figure covers the deployment through March 15 and is mostly personnel costs, according to John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary. He told reporters at a briefing that personnel accounts for about $284 million of the total, while $199 million is for operations. Coverage Distribution: 0% Left Center 43% Right 57%

Blindspot for the Right:

India heavily increases security at farmer protest sites Indian authorities heavily increased security at three main protest sites outside New Delhi’s border on Tuesday, adding iron spikes, steel barricades and hundreds of riot police in an attempt to stop tens of thousands of demonstrating farmers in the capital. Indian farmers have left their homes more than two months ago to camp outside the capital New Delhi to demand the repeal of laws they believe would end guaranteed pricing and force them to sell to powerful corporations rather than government-run markets. Photo: EPA Coverage Distribution: 17% Right Left 50% Center 33% 17%

Blindspot for the Left:

Gun control bill from Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee would create national firearm registry, require licensing Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has proposed a gun control bill that would create a national firearm registry, set a minimum gun ownership age at 21 and both require licensing and psychological evaluations. Coverage Distribution: 14% Left 14% Right 86%

Blindspot for the Right:

Pussy Riot release new song to support Alexei Navalny Russian punk act Pussy Riot have released a new song in support of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who is currently in captivity in Russia. A Moscow court on Tuesday ordered Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to serve prison time for violating the terms of his probation while he was recuperating in Germany from nerve-agent poisoning. Navalny had earlier denounced the proceedings as a vain attempt by the Kremlin to scare millions of Russians into submission. Coverage Distribution: 6% Right Left 56% Center 38% 6

Something we'd like to promote this week :

Promote your cause here Get your message in front of over 70,000 highly engaged readers who want to stay informed and intellectually challenged. Our readers are smart. They understand that what they see in the mainstream media is not always the whole story, and they are hungry for more sources of information. With an expanding field of media choices, Ground News seeks to help our readers make more informed decisions about consuming news. If your brand is looking to reach and engage with a community invested in the truth, consider advertising in Ground News. Check out our launch rates.

Blindspot for the Left:

World food price index rises in January, at highest level since July 2014 World food prices rose for an eighth consecutive month in January, hitting their highest level since July 2014, led by jumps in cereals, sugar and vegetable oils, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged 113.3 points last month December’s 108.6, revised up from 107.5. Jumps in cereals, sugar and vegetable oils led the rise, the agency said. Coverage Distribution: 0% Left Center 37% Right 63%

Blindspot for the Right:

Parkland school shooting survivor announces he's starting rival pillow company to take on MyPillow Parkland school shooting survivor and March For Our Lives co-founder David Hogg is declaring a pillow fight against The MyPillow Guy, Trump supporter Mike Lindell, saying they’re going to prove progressives can make a better pillow. Coverage Distribution: 0% Right Left 40% Center 60%

Blindspot for the Left:

AOC faces backlash as critics point out she wasn't in Capitol building during riots Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is facing criticism over initial claims she made about the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, with many noting that she wasn't in the Capitol Dome building when they occurred, but rather in her office in the nearby Cannon House. Coverage Distribution: 12% Left 12% 7Right 81%

Split Reporting

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

U.S. moves to rejoin U.N. Human Rights Council

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

CNN: Biden administration will reengage with UN Human Rights Council

The Guardian: US moves to re-engage with UN human rights council in Trump reversal

The Daily Wire: Biden Will Return U.S. To Anti-Israel UN Human Rights Council

CNS News: Biden to Re-Engage With UN Human Rights Council, Which Rejects Reform Efforts

The Western Journal: U.S. set to rejoin human-rights abusers Russia, China and Cuba on U.N. Human Rights Council

Russia Today: Washington ready to rejoin UN Human Rights Council… to shift its attention from Israel’s violations

US Department of State: We recognize that the Human Rights Council is a flawed body, in need of reform to its agenda, membership, and focus, including its disproportionate focus on Israel. However, our withdrawal in June 2018 did nothing to encourage meaningful change, but instead created a vacuum of U.S. leadership , which countries with authoritarian agendas have used to their advantage.

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 and this newsletter you can contribute 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 independent 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.