News in Review: Wednesday, February 15, 2023
What does the news landscape look like?
Over the past five days, the story of balloons and UFOs has remained at the top of the news rankings. Nikki Haley and the 2024 presidential race is in second, while the recent Michigan State shooting is in third. The Ohio train derailment is gaining coverage.
This is how the top stories were covered on each side of the media yesterday:
Balloons / UFOs (71% more on the right)
Nikki Haley / 2024 race (27% more on the left)
Michigan State shooting (56% more on the left)
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:
college (2.2x)
post (2x)
school (1.3x)
Conservative outlets used these words more than liberal outlets:
spy (2.2x)
biden (1.9x)
shot (1.3x)
What is happening in the top stories?
Now for a deep dive into our top three stories, starting with…
Balloons / UFOs
Three unidentified flying objects (UFOs) were shot down over U.S. and Canadian airspace over the weekend.
The White House has a new leading theory that the objects were tied to some commercial or benign purpose.
There is no known connection of the objects to China.
Senators left a classified briefing on Tuesday with very few answers to their questions.
Nikki Haley / 2024 race
Nikki Haley is the first Republican to officially challenge Trump for the 2024 nomination.
Former President Trump has not yet attacked Nikki Haley, but has critiqued her for being a creature of the political establishment.
Trump has a history of attacking his opponents with derogatory nicknames, and some Republicans are worried that a crowded 2024 presidential field could make it easier for Trump to win the nomination.
A Monmouth University Poll found that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis holds a double-digit lead over Donald Trump in a hypothetical 2024 GOP primary match-up.
Multiple outside groups have emerged in recent months to build up volunteers and infrastructure for a potential DeSantis 2024 campaign.
Michigan State shooting
Three Michigan State University students were killed and five were critically wounded in a shooting on Monday night.
The gunman, 43-year-old Anthony McRae, had a previous gun violation and fatally shot himself when police confronted him about 5 miles away from the East Lansing campus.
The motive for the shooting is still unknown and the suspect had no known affiliation to the university.