News in Review: Wednesday, March 1, 2023
The 2024 GOP presidential race has combined with the Fox News / Dominion lawsuit to become the new top story. Student loan forgiveness is number two. The COVID lab leak story has gained share over the past few days.
This is how the top stories were covered on each side of the media yesterday:
Fox News / Dominion / GOP 2024 (84% more on the left)
Student loan forgiveness (1% more on the right)
COVID / lab leak (101% 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:
murdoch (7.4x)
nuclear (3.7x)
network (1.5x)
Conservative outlets used these words more than liberal outlets:
committee (2.9x)
percent (1.9x)
chinese (1.7x)
What is happening in the top stories?
Now for a deep dive into our top three stories, starting with…
Fox News / Dominion / GOP 2024
Former President Trump has received a boost in Republican support, with one survey showing him hitting 50% support in a crowded GOP field.
A new Emerson poll found Trump with a 30-point lead (55%-25%) against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — up from a 26-point lead (55%-29%) over DeSantis in Emerson’s January survey.
Trump accused Rupert Murdoch of “throwing his anchors under the table” after the billionaire owner of Fox News admitted under oath that several of the channel’s presenters supported the former president’s false election-fraud claims.
Student loan forgiveness
The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on President Biden’s student debt relief plan, which could provide up to $20,000 in debt relief to millions of Americans.
The conservative justices, with a 6-3 majority in the court, are questioning the Biden administration’s legal authority to offer the debt relief.
The Biden administration is arguing that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona had the authority to forgive the debt under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act.
COVID / lab leak
FBI Director Christopher Wray said the agency has assessed that a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, likely caused the COVID-19 pandemic.
A new poll found that more Americans believe COVID-19 originated from a virology lab in China than that it it transmitted naturally from animals to humans.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said there is “no definitive answer” on the question of the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A U.S. government assessment that COVID-19 likely originated from a lab leak in China has ignited yet another round of political furor around the issue.