Fox News- Is Election Coverage Equal?

Stephen Olson

so070712@ohio.edu

Trump Foundation Seal

When most people hear the phrase “election bias” they mostly think of Donald Trump. This does not mean that people support Trump as a result of the media bias against him, but rather the constant news coverage of Trump can’t be denied or ignored. Many people also associate Fox news with a bias against Clinton, though like anything else, examples can be found that disprove the theory. One recent Fox News headline reads “Hillary Clinton and the undisputed media bias against her”

While Clinton is often times recognized as the candidate who works financial loopholes, there may be some evidence that Trump has been playing the same games. While Trump does not have a foundation near the size of Clintons, he does still have a foundation that is capable of doing some of the fraudulent actions that Clinton’s foundation was. Between September 1^st and 4^th the LexisNexis database found that the Trump Foundation was mentioned 20 times to the Clinton Foundation’s 680 times, 34 times the amount of coverage.

The Washington Post originally aired the story in March, leading many to wonder how Trump’s story could have picked up so little airtime when it seems Clinton’s Foundation is a daily discussion in the media. My belief is that Trump was able to avoid the media circus on his foundation due to the fact that he is constantly making news and in the spotlight daily, while Clinton seems to be missing-in-action and out of the spotlight for extended periods at times.

Being constant in the media can obviously hurt you as a candidate in a plethora of ways, but as Trump has proved time and time again before, owning the media circuits seems to have a large number of benefits. The media has a hard time digging into any of the more suspicious parts of Trump’s history, mainly because they are trying to keep up with the news he is putting out and creating daily.

The argument is that due to the fact that Clinton’s emails brought on no criminal changes, even after being investigated, so the story should be dropped. Nobody feels the press is easy on Trump, but many feel the press is ignoring their civil obligations by not deeper investigating Trump’s business and foundation record.

While most believe that if anything the press is out to get Trump, there are a select few of strong Clinton supporters who truly feel their candidate has been the victim in this election cycle, instead of the other way around. The feelings of remorse have even prompted a team of Clinton supports to come up with “The medias five rules against Hillary Clinton.” Rule #2 states “Every allegation, no matter how ludicrous, is believable until it can be proven completely false. And even then, it keeps a life of its own in the media conservative world. While Fox News may not be exactly “fair and balanced,” they were in this instance giving attention to the opinions of Hillary supporters.