The upcoming election has taken over the news, but did you know that depending on where you get your news, you might be getting only one side of the story? It’s true– depending on what news channel you read or watch, you might only be getting a blurred half of the information. News channels like CNN lean more democratic while channels like Fox are generally more republican. One topic on both channels could seem like two separate stories. Take Trump’s recent campaign rally in Des Moines Iowa:

 Fox’s coverage of the story can be found in the article “Trump makes grand entrance at Iowa campaign rally” by David Aaro. The article begins with Trump’s “grand entrance” to Eye of the Tiger. The article quotes Trump, how he is concerned about the close election poll saying, “Because nobody’s going to do for Iowa what I did for Iowa.” The article ends once again quoting Trump, “Vice President Biden, you owe the people of America an apology because it turns out, you are a corrupt politician,” and also “Let’s face it, Joe is shot.”

The CNN coverage of the story is told far differently. The article “Trump’s lack of honesty on Covid hangs over his reelection bid” by Stephen Collinson starts instead by covering the damage caused by Trump’s refusal to address Covid sooner. How again “he used his own rebound — and the symptom-free experience of his son Barron, who also tested positive — to yet again downplay the virus,”  as well as saying “In the real world, rather than Trump’s fantasy version, the pandemic is getting worse quickly.” When talking about the rally, the article says “Trump is not just risking the health of his supporters. People who get the virus at his rallies also can pass it on to others in wider society.”

If a particular source wants you to see the story their way, they might only include the facts that point to their view. The wording used by different news stories and the subjects they choose to include can completely flip the topic. Instead of reading or watching one source of news, it’s important to get multiple views. If you have all the information then you can form your own opinion instead of reading the opinion of others. Leaving out certain bits of information or highlighting others will only ever give a murky half-truth and not the full story.