Bias in Cable News

CNN: A Left-Handed Slap to the Face

CNN has been one of the most well-known cable news broadcasts in America. The network has been running for nearly forty years, constantly stepping up its game in terms of the stories it broadcasts and the messages it sends. In fact, of the "big three" news networks (CNN, FOX, MSNBC), CNN is currently the most watched network of them, according to a chart from Semantic Scholar (shown below).

However, because of their popularity, CNN's viewers have decided to put all their trust in the network, as well as all of the opinions given by their news anchors and independent correspondents. According to mediabiasfactcheck.com, "Overall, we rate CNN left biased based on story selection that often favors the left. We rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to misinformation and failed fact checks from guests and pundits. However, CNN’s straight news reporting would earn a High rating for factual reporting,"   

Even CNN's webpage is evidence of their bias (CNN News Page). Several of their stories such as "None of this is normal. Here's what the unprecedented move says about Democrats' new approach", and "Michael Cohen delays testimony, citing 'threats' from Trump", as well as many others, show the amount of "left-leaning" that the network has. In many of these articles, the writers show clear political bias towards trump and anything related to the president.

The writers are not the only ones who show their bias. Many news anchors also let their true colors show. Many videos on the CNN YouTube channel are enough to make some people question their reliability, or in some cases, enough to sway those who believe whatever they see on the television. Not only that, but journalists and other reporters have called out CNN directly, accusing them of bias (CNN Accused of Bias). Some have even gone so far as to record one of the executive producers of CNN explaining their complete bias towards President Trump (Video Below)

Videos, such as the one shown above, and broadcasts given by the newscasters themselves are also considered biased due to low fact checking, as previously stated, and as such, generally base many stories on their own ideals, beliefs, and values, whereas other popular news networks, such as CBS, ABC, or MSNBC, have been proven to, while not always completely basing their stories on their own ideals, have gone out and done the research needed to make their broadcasts that much more factual, or at least more factual than CNN, essentially slapping themselves in the face, so to speak.

Overall, while CNN does have one of the highest amount of views of any cable news network, they are an extremely biased network, leaning towards the left side with their news stories and articles. Their facts are usually based on their own opinions and have been proven to be unreliable, yet still, to this day, many still rely on CNN as their primary source of news and information.