Last Week In The News
August 19-25: Tuesday Primaries; Mar a Lago; Back-to-school; CNN vs Fox vs Reuters;
In Top Down News, we unify, compare, and distill many mainstream perspectives that capture most of America’s political readership to approximate the truth.
In a Nutshell
These are the top stories aggregated by attention from various mainstream media outlets. Breakdown by each media outlet and headline links are available in the appendix of this post.
Top Exclusive Stories
These are headlines from topics that were predominantly covered by one source and missed by the rest of mainstream media.
You can find links in the appendix below.
Topic Deep Dive
Tuesday Primaries
Here’s the gist: The primaries in New York and Florida on Tuesday will be a test of the political landscape after redistricting. In New York, Nadler defeats Maloney, while in Florida, Crist advances to take on DeSantis. This is seen as a preview of the November midterm elections.
Top Recent Headlines from Left
(nbcnews) Primaries in N.Y. and Florida test political landscapes scambled by redistricting
(washingtonpost) Nadler defeats Maloney in N.Y., while Crist advances to take on DeSantis in Fla.
Top Recent Headlines from Right
(foxnews) New York primary promises to set tone for November's midterm elections
(washingtonexaminer) Here’s what happened on one of the busiest primary nights yet
Top Recent Headlines from Center
(wsj) New York Primaries See Democrats Fight for Redistricted Seats
(reuters) Factbox: Five U.S. midterm races to watch in New York, Florida
New Climate Law
Here’s the gist: The headlines discuss the new climate law signed by President Biden and the potential impacts of the law on the environment. Some people are concerned that the law will lead to more deforestation, while others believe that it will help protect forests from fire.
Here’s the divide: The left-wing media is talking about how the new climate law is going to help cut emissions and protect the environment. The right-wing media is criticizing the law and saying that it will not do anything to help the environment. The center media is talking about how the law could expand the biogas industry.
Top Recent Headlines from Left
(cnn) The evergreen tree that outlasted the dinosaurs is now endangered
(nbcnews) Rebuking new climate law, Herschel Walker asks: 'Don’t we have enough trees around here?'
(nytimes) After Signing Climate Bill, Biden Prepares More Actions to Cut Emissions
Top Recent Headlines from Right
(foxnews) Spielberg leaves climate concerns over private jet on cutting-room floor
(washingtonexaminer) Climate hypocrites are all tell, no show
Top Recent Headlines from Center
(reuters) Biden climate law could expand controversial biogas industry
Back-To-School
Here’s the gist: Policy in schools related to gun control, covid mask mandates, LGBT, etc. are affecting students, teachers, and parents.
Here’s the divide: The left-wing media is criticizing a Florida bill that would require teachers to out gay students, saying it puts teachers in a difficult position; they are highlighting students feeling unsafe in Uvalde. The right-wing media is defending a Christian school's policy on sexuality, saying that parents have a right to choose what kind of education their children receive. The center media is reporting on the increased popularity of charter and parochial schools after the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Top Recent Headlines from Left
(nbcnews) Break the law or out a student? Florida teachers navigate 'Don’t Say Gay' bill
(nytimes) ‘I Don’t Feel Safe.’ Children Fear Going Back to School in Uvalde.
(washingtonpost) After Roe, teens are teaching themselves sex ed, because the adults won’t
Top Recent Headlines from Right
(foxnews) Christian school doubles down on sexuality policy despite death threats
(foxnews) Parents enrolling kids in Catholic school in effort to combat left's 'woke' agenda
(washingtonexaminer) Critics say enrollment at virtual charter schools is killing public schools
Head to head
How does Fox vs CNN vs Reuters compare in terms of topic/event coverage over the last week?
Let’s dive deeper into headlines from the highest coverage topics in this chart
Mar Lago FBI Search
Since last time, we know now that classified information was found at the Mar-a-Lago. CNNs headlines express concern over the contents of these documents, while Fox News headlines express concern for the raid itself.
CNN Top Headlines
Classified information at Mar-a-Lago causes concern in White House
6 takeaways from today's court hearing over Mar-a-Lago search
Trump asks for a 'special master' to review evidence from Mar-a-Lago search
White House officials privately express concern about classified information taken to Mar-a-Lago
Fox News Top Headlines
Key documents justifying Mar-a-Lago raid at stake in pivotal court hearing today
Pence calls for transparency over Mar-a-Lago raid; comments on Cheney loss
Why Democrats have a good chance of winning the Mar-a-Lago midterms
Migrants From Texas To Sanctuary City
Since last time, left-leaning media has started covering stories around migrants from Texas bussed to NYC and DC. The left is split between positive sentiment towards this story and concern. The right is framing the left’s failure to handle this crisis due to its liberal policies.
Headlines from Left-leaning Sources
(CNN) Texas is sending migrants to New York and DC, by bus. Many are glad to go
(CNN) Officials: NYC welcomes largest single-day arrival of migrants from Texas
(NYTimes) A Migrant Wave Tests New York City’s Identity as a Global Sanctuary
Top Headlines Right-leaning Sources
(Fox News) Dem mayor's second request for help with migrant influx that liberal policies allowed is shot down
(Fox News) Pentagon slaps down sanctuary city mayor's plea for National Guard troops to help manage migrant buses
(Fox News) Dem sanctuary cities' policies come back to haunt them over migrant buses
Top Headlines from Center
(Reuters) Pentagon denies Washington mayor's request for migrant help
Florida Primaries Desantis Crist
For the left, DeSantis is a looming threat both in Florida and the 2024 presidential bid. For the right, he is a clear favorite in Florida but the sentiment is ambiguous in the context of the presidential bid.
CNN Top Headlines
Democrats hope to derail DeSantis' rise as he weighs a 2024 presidential bid by pitting him against Crist, a former GOP governor of Florida who changed parties
Fox News Top Headlines
LIVE UPDATES:Dem voters decide who will face DeSantis in November
Florida gov fires back at Charlie Crist after he slammed DeSantis voters
Dem Jewish leaders call on GOP to urge DeSantis to cancel rally appearance with Mastriano
Biggest Single-Sided Coverage Topics:
CNN does a deep dive on Native Hawaiian’s lives which is far from great. Fox News focuses on how border policies incentivize cartels and the response towards left-leaning school policies.
US School Policy, Native Hawaiians Dystopia, Border Policy Cartels
CNN Top Headlines
'Tourism normalizes and conceals the current dystopian reality' experienced by many Native Hawaiians, an activist says
Fox News Top Headlines
Christian school doubles down on sexuality policy despite death threats
State's school board votes to ban LGBT, BLM flags from classrooms
Parents enrolling kids in Catholic school in effort to combat left's 'woke' agenda
GOP border district rep torches Biden's 'disgusting' and 'inhumane' policies
Biden's 'reckless' border policy subsidizing drug cartels: Rep. Byron Donalds
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.
Appendix
Top Stories Broken down by source:
Top Headline Links:
Trump considering releasing footage of FBI Mar-a-Lago search
Christian school doubles down on sexuality policy despite death threats
Dem sanctuary cities' policies come back to haunt them over migrant buses
Warnings of attack on Ukraine nuclear plant set the world on edge
Exclusive Coverage Stories:
Fox News: Casey Affleck shares heartfelt message after missing brother's wedding
Wall Street Journal: Investor Sale Adds to Bed Bath & Beyond’s Problems
Wall Street Journal: Junk-Bond Rally Trips Over Rate-Hike Fears
Reuters: U.S. first lady Jill Biden tests negative for COVID
Wall Street Journal: Intel, Brookfield Sign $30 Billion Deal to Finance Chip Factories