Favoritism Changes Everything
By: Matthew Squillacioti
Tags: Bias, Election 2020

Favoritism Changes Everything

On Tuesday, November 3rd, most Americans are sitting on their couch watching the Presidential Election; as it’s televised throughout the country on multiple different news stations with their own twist. Each American watches a different news station that can alter their perception of the election. I decided to watch the election on 3 different news stations to see how each one would affect my perception of what was taking place. I watched the election on CNN, Fox, and ABC from 8:00–9:30pm. As every American citizen watches the election on a different news station; their perception may be altered based on how those news are portrayed to the viewers.

I started out by watching the election on ABC at 8:15pm; this is when I saw the first case of bias towards Trump. David Muir, anchor of ABC World News Tonight, shows his bias towards the Trump campaign by backing up that Trump is not out of this race and is actually having a great showing for the election. This could change the perception of the election for different viewers by showing that Trump never gives up and will always do his best. Muir also used diction in the way he backed up Trump by his word choice. He was arguing that Trump may be behind at that certain moment but the way his voice sounded really empowered me as a viewer to think that Trump will never be counted out until the very end. Throughout watching ABC and CNN the perception of the election was tilted in Trump’s honor as they keep praising him from the last election and saying that he hasn’t and won’t give up.

At 9:00pm I switched over to CNN to see how their perception of the election would change mine and the viewers at home. Watching CNN really wasn’t that different from ABC as I saw a lot of bias towards Trump. John King, anchor for CNN, speaks on Trump’s behalf using information from last election to boost Trump for the present one. CNN’s perception on the election affected the viewers at home by showing that the election is very similar to the one 4 years ago and that we shouldn’t worry. King used quote selection as he used empowering quotes for Trump supporters to show that there is still hope and not to give up because it’s a long fight. The coverage of ABC and CNN has really affected the perception of the viewers at home by supporting the Trump supporters and shooting down the Biden supporters by showing us that Trump has light at the end of the tunnel for winning this election.

News stations play a key role in the way that Americans get their information and the way they portray those new will affect each person’s perception. Watching the news on a certain station that shows bias towards a specific candidate can really impact your thoughts as a viewer. They can lead you in the direction of a certain candidate that they like but you may not feel the same but the overall bias makes you question your original opinion. The topic of bias in a news station is really important because these stations pick what we see as viewers also known as a gatekeeper. These gatekeepers can choose as to what key details they leave out of a story that could really alter our overall perception of that story. This throughs off our whole perception of a story because we question if we are really getting the full story or is that news station showing bias to a specific group that’s involved in that story. Overall, throughout the election ABC and CNN showed bias towards the Trump campaign that affected the perception of the election for the viewers at home.