Last Week From The Top Down
Oct 20-27; United 🫰 Student Loan Forgiveness Legal issues, Retracted Letter to Ukraine; 🟦🔎 School / Police shootings; 🟥 🔎 Biden Character, Abortion;
Greetings earthlings. Studying media outlets from high up in outer space is kind of like being at the dinner table with a bunch of uncles and aunts - most of them are talking past each other about different things. They are magnifying or minimizing certain issues based on their experiences and values. Sometimes they also make appeals to emotion, sensationalism, and spin stories.
This is what Top Down News contextualizes for you in the context of mainstream news by efficiently, algorithmically, and transparently combing through the news from the past week, showing you these biases from each side, and removing redundant information. Once you see the conversation from a high level, you can draw your own conclusions.
Top 5 Stories of the Past Week
The following stories ranked at the top by aggregated front-page attention from the following mainstream media sources:
🟦 Left: CNN, NBC News, New York Times, Washington Post
⬜️ Center: BBC, Reuters, Wall Street Journal
🟥 Right: Fox News, The National Review, Washington Examiner, Washington Times
Fetterman Debate Performance
🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦⬜️🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥
🟦🤜🏼 🤛🏼🟥 Left vs Right Analysis
The left headlines tend to focus on the content of the debate and the exchanges between the two candidates, while the right headlines focus on Fetterman's performance and what they perceive as his faltering.
Top Headlines
NYTIMES: John Fetterman’s Debate Showing Raises Democratic Anxieties in Senate Battle
FOXNEWS: Debate host fires back after Fetterman complains closed captioning was 'filled with errors'
WSJ: Fetterman, Oz Meet for Pennsylvania’s Lone Senate Debate
Student Loan Forgiveness
🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦⬜️⬜️🟥🟥🟥🟥
Top Headlines
Note: Headlines across the spectrum are similar. Here's one:
REUTERS: Biden's student loan forgiveness plan survives two legal challenges
Joe Biden Presidency
🟦🟦⬜️🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥
Top Headlines
NYTIMES: Here’s how President Biden uses his “car guy” persona to burnish his everyman image.
FOXNEWS: Biden makes it a habit to berate, scold, and insult reporters when he faces tough questions
Liz Truss Resignation
🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦⬜️⬜️⬜️
Top Headlines
Note: Headlines across the spectrum are similar. Here's one:
WSJ: U.K.’s Liz Truss Resigns After Igniting Financial Turmoil
Voting Turnout and Voter Suppression
🟦🟦🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥
🟦🤜🏼 🤛🏼🟥 Left vs Right Analysis
The left headlines focus on specific examples of voter suppression or intimidation, while the right headlines focus on general claims about voter fraud or the impact of mail-in voting.
Top Headlines
NYTIMES: For Trump’s Backers in Congress, ‘Devil Terms’ Help Rally Voters
WASHINGTONTIMES: Playing with fire: How Trump’s push against mail-in voting is likely to impact GOP turnout
United Stories 🫰
Stories, ranked by net front-page attention, that had relatively even front-page coverage and similar perspectives
Student Loan Forgiveness
🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦⬜️⬜️🟥🟥🟥🟥
Top Headlines
Note: Headlines across the spectrum are similar. Here's one:
REUTERS: Biden's student loan forgiveness plan survives two legal challenges
Jan. 6 Committee Subpoenaed Trump
🟦🟦🟥
Top Headlines
NBCNEWS: Jan. 6 committee subpoenas former President Donald Trump, calling on him to testify Nov. 14
FOXNEWS: Pelosi questions Trump's manhood, predicts if he'll testify in front of Jan. 6 committee
Senate Races In United States
🟦⬜️🟥🟥
Top Headlines
Note: Headlines across the spectrum are similar. Here's one:
WSJ: North Carolina Senate Race Spotlights Shrinking Slice of Persuadable Voters
Liberal Lawmakers Letter On Ukraine
🟦🟥
Top Headlines
WASHINGTONPOST: Liberal Democrats withdraw letter to Biden urging him to rethink Ukraine policy
Lindsey Graham And 2020 Election
🟦🟥
Top Headlines
NATIONALREVIEW: Bank on It: Senator Graham Will Have to Testify in 2020 Election Case
Left Magnify 🟦🔎
School & Police Shootings
🟦🟦
Top Headlines
WASHINGTONPOST: In Atlanta, police shootings wound three times as many people as they kill, part of an unseen nationwide toll
CNN: Rifle used in St. Louis shooting was taken from gunman days before attack, police say
Right Magnify 🟥🔎
Joe Biden Presidency and Character
🟦🟦⬜️🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥
Top Headlines
NYTIMES: Here’s how President Biden uses his “car guy” persona to burnish his everyman image.
FOXNEWS: Biden makes it a habit to berate, scold, and insult reporters when he faces tough questions
WASHINGTONTIMES: Biden's snippy exchanges with reporters mask midterm fears
Florida Gubernatorial Debate
🟦🟥🟥🟥🟥
🟦🤜🏼 🤛🏼🟥 Left vs Right Analysis
The left headlines tend to focus on the debate between DeSantis and Crist, while the right headlines focus more on DeSantis himself. The right also emphasizes Crist's support for transgender surgeries for children, while the left focuses on his support among Hispanic voters.
Top Headlines
FOXNEWS: DeSantis vows to put Crist 'out to pasture,' hammers Dem on his support for trans surgeries on kids
Impact Of Abortion On Politics
🟦🟥🟥🟥🟥
🟦🤜🏼 🤛🏼🟥 Left vs Right Analysis
The left headlines tend to focus on the issue of abortion itself, while the right headlines focus on the political implications of the issue. The right also tends to use more charged language, calling abortion a "slaughter" and accusing Democrats of "zealotry."
Top Headlines
WASHINGTONPOST: What we found when analyzing 1,000 viral TikToks on #abortion
FOXNEWS: Kellyanne Conway rips Biden for focus on Roe v. Wade: He has 'picked the wrong hill to die on'
John Durham Investigation
🟥🟥🟥
Top Headlines
Immigration Under Biden
🟥🟥🟥
Top Headlines
Left Minimize 🟦🙈
Biden And Oil Reserves
⬜️🟥🟥
Top Headlines
Note: Headlines across the spectrum are similar. Here's one:
BBC: What's driving Biden's unusual focus on gas prices
Right Minimize 🟥🙈
Liz Truss Resignation
🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦⬜️⬜️⬜️
Top Headlines
Note: Headlines across the spectrum are similar. Here's one:
WSJ: U.K.’s Liz Truss Resigns After Igniting Financial Turmoil
Xi Jinping Election As China Leader
🟦🟦🟦⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️🟥
Top Headlines
NBCNEWS: Xi Jinping secures historic third term as leader of China
FOXNEWS: Why the world must be 'concerned' about Xi Jinping: Gordon Chang
REUTERS: China's Xi clinches third term, packs leadership with loyalists
Rishi Sunak Becomes U.K. Prime Minister
🟦🟦🟦🟦⬜️⬜️⬜️
Top Headlines
Note: Headlines across the spectrum are similar. Here's one:
REUTERS: Prescient or traitor? Rishi Sunak is the favourite to be next UK PM
War In Ukraine Is Causing Power Outages
🟦🟦⬜️⬜️⬜️
Top Headlines
Note: Headlines across the spectrum are similar. Here's one:
BBC: Ukraine power cut warning: 'Charge everything'
Inflation
🟦⬜️⬜️⬜️
Top Headlines
WASHINGTONPOST: European Central Bank to announce new jumbo rate hike despite opposition
WSJ: Companies Take Different Strategies to Navigate Inflation
In Top Down News, we unify and compare a multitude of mainstream perspectives that capture the majority of America’s political readership to approximate the truth. This entire newsletter is composed using a transparent and ever-improving methodology. Read how this works here. Dive deeper into the analysis for this post here, powered by AI-based Natural Language Understanding and D3-based Dynamic visualizations.