The Language of "Unbiased" Journalists



A news report is supposed to be completely unbiased, with just the facts given. But most of the time, the writers of these reports can't help but let a little bit of their personal opinions bleed through their writing. This is evident in a Fox News article and a CNN article reporting on the same topic: the Notre Dame fire.

Fox News' article is titled "More yellow vest protests despite Notre Dame fire." The word "despite" in this context suggests that the author believes that the Notre Dame fire is a reason for the protestors to stall their cause. This view doesn't really make sense considering the yellow vest protestors were protesting the abundance of money raised to rebuild the cathedral, while the economic inequalities French workers face are continuing to be ignored. The writer also continues to use words throughout the piece that suggest that the yellow vest protestors are just an angry group of people that are dramatically lashing out and causing disruption in France. Words like "anger," "outraged," "violent," and "anti-rich" are consistently used in different forms throughout the article to describe the protestors. This seems to paint them in a somewhat negative way.

CNN's article is titled "Paris police use tear gas against 'yellow vest' protestors." Already, the piece is treating the protestors as victims against the government. The writer uses more positive words to describe the protestors, such as saying that they are "rallying against economic injustice." On the other hand, Fox News described the protestors' cause as a "longstanding fight against the French government."

 The subtle differences in diction between CNN and Fox News' articles are telling in the writers' views on the issue of the yellow vest protestors. CNN's word choice suggests that they believe the protestors have a rightful cause, whereas Fox News depicts the protestors more negatively. This furthers the belief that language and word choice is crucial in everything that we write and can completely change the tone of our writing.

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