The Partisan Delivery of News: A Content Analysis of CNN and FOX

The purpose of this research is to determine how political party affiliation impacts how news is delivered in America. I will be researching how partisanship affects television news and the commentators’ ability to report the news. Scholarly conversations regarding political party preferences acknowledge that partisanship has more significance than in the past as the two parties have become more polarized. The mode of delivering news also has an important role because each delivery method emphasizes unique factors: television utilizes tone and supplemental images, magazines and newspapers can use only verbiage, and social media is often more dramatic in order to catch attention and be a quick read. I hypothesize that television news is presented in a manner that is biased due to political affiliation. Using research gathered through a content analysis of transcripts of Fox News and CNN, I will add to the discussion on the influence of how news is conveyed when political leanings are involved. Results of the content analysis found that both Fox News and CNN contain political bias. Both objectively and subjectively, the networks consistently make negative comments on the members and policies of the other party and have polar opposite opinions of President Donald Trump