News in Review: Tuesday, March 7, 2023

What does the news landscape look like?

Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, and the Conservative Political Action Conference have have been the top story over the past 5 days. Violence at an Atlanta police training center entered the news cycle yesterday. The rest of the top 10 is somewhat evenly distributed amongst stories like the train derailment, the war in Ukraine, and abortion pills.

This is how the top stories were covered on each side of the media yesterday:

• Trump / DeSantis / CPAC (72% more on the left)

• Atlanta / Cop City (60% more on the right)

• Mexico kidnappings (108% more on the right)

Media bias ratings are from AllSides.

This is how articles from liberal and conservative outlets were distributed over the past five days amongst the top stories.

Liberal outlets used these words more than conservative outlets:

• tv (13.9x)

• russia (2.5x)

• cpac (2x)

Conservative outlets used these words more than liberal outlets:

• leak (45.3x)

• lab (36.8x)

• newsom (22.8x)

What is happening in the top stories?

Now for a deep dive into our top three stories, starting with…

Trump / DeSantis / CPAC

• Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) are the frontrunners for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election.

• Trump headlined the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, while DeSantis spoke at the Club for Growth’s donor retreat in Florida.

• Trump won the CPAC straw poll with 62 percent support, while DeSantis came in a distant second with 20 percent support.

• Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) endorsed a potential Republican presidential ticket with Trump and DeSantis.

• Trump gave out golden chocolate bars to attendees at CPAC, offering them a VIP ticket to a reception with the former president.

Atlanta / Cop City

• 35 people were detained in Atlanta after a violent protest at the site of a new police training center.

• Protesters threw large rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails, and fireworks at police officers and destroyed multiple pieces of construction equipment.

• More than 20 people from around the country faced domestic terrorism charges after the incident.

• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said she will introduce a resolution to declare Antifa as a terrorist organization.

• The police and fire training center is being built on 85 acres of a 400-acre property in unincorporated DeKalb County.

Mexico kidnappings

• Four Americans were kidnapped by gunmen on Friday evening shortly after passing the Mexico border.

• The FBI office in San Antonio issued a statement on Sunday asking for public assistance in locating the perpetuators responsible for the kidnapping and also announced a $50,000 award for the return of those kidnapped and the arrest of those responsible.

• The U.S. State Department has advised Americans not to travel to Tamaulipas, in part due to the threat of kidnapping.

• The four U.S. citizens were travelling in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates when they entered Matamoros, Tamaulipas, on Friday.