Sunday, August 23, 2026
Today's Media Report Card
11 articles. 10 outlets. 9% received a D or F.
NYPost earned an A for precise tariff timelines while Townhall earned a D for cherry-picking on the same Canada duties. France24 and CBS delivered verified export values and retaliation dates that Axios and NYT skipped. Left outlets omitted legal authority details on the 50 percent tariffs; right outlets ignored the 71 percent Gallup opposition to data centers. These gaps left readers with incomplete pictures of costs hitting both economies.
Townhall's D grade for cherry-picking on tariffs exposed how even top-line right outlets can strip context from official statements by U.S. Trade Representative Greer.
Grade Distribution
6
0
4
1
0
Every Outlet: Political Lean vs. Propaganda Grade
Dot size = number of articles analyzed. Green = A/B, amber = C, red = D/F.
Outlet Rankings
| # | Outlet | Grade | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | new | nypost.com | A |
| 2 | ▼1 | cbsnews.com | A |
| 3 | ▼1 | bbc.co.uk | A |
| 4 | ▲4 | france24.com | A |
| 5 | — | cnbc.com | A |
| 6 | new | nytimes.com | C |
| 7 | — | axios.com | C |
| 8 | new | foxnews.com | C |
| 9 | new | latimes.com | C |
| 10 | new | townhall.com | D |
The A grades for NYPost, CBS, BBC, France24 and CNBC show that sticking to announced tariff amounts and September 8 retaliation dates still separates solid reporting from the C and D pack.
Most Common Propaganda Techniques
What Each Side Left Out Today
Left-leaning outlets omitted
- Coverage of data centers omitted the March 2026 Gallup finding that 71 percent of Americans oppose new facilities near homes.
- Tariff stories supplied no figures on the share of Canadian exports hit or the legal authority behind the 50 percent duties.
- Voter concern pieces provided no debt or tariff cost data and treated inflation only as one among several headwinds.
Right-leaning outlets omitted
- Articles referenced a Fox News poll on voter division but gave no numbers or reasons and omitted the Gallup 71 percent data-center opposition.
- Reporting offered no additional local infrastructure context beyond a single Gallup reference on electricity and water strain.
- Pieces presented unverified social-media analysis on debt without disclosing the partisan role of one quoted strategist.
How Each Side Spun It
Left-leaning spin
- France24 reports framed localized data-center resistance as an epicenter of the midterms without evidence of measurable electoral impact.
- Anchoring of the Nevada race emphasized long-term Republican advantages while listing inflation as a possible Democratic opening.
- Left coverage relayed Carney's retaliation announcement with tariff amounts but added no further economic analysis.
Right-leaning spin
- Right articles accurately quoted Fetterman rejecting AI doomsdaying yet paired statements with Trump administration comments on jobs.
- Reports reproduced Fetterman's statements verbatim and noted alignment with Trump priorities without added interpretation.
- Coverage linked long-term decline in white Christian identification to future Republican challenges while portraying Democratic primaries as socialist influence.
Cherry-picking opposition at the NYT and asymmetric scrutiny at the LA Times reveal a shared habit of highlighting one side's polling complaints while downplaying the other's verified cost figures.
Where Outlets Disagreed Most
Coverage of the Nevada 2nd District race showed the widest split, with left reports anchoring Republican structural edges and right reports omitting debt and inflation data that national Democrats used to target the seat.
Op-eds and neutral rewrites below restore the missing export totals, Gallup numbers, and campaign finance questions the daily articles left out.
Read what actually happened.
Every story above has been rewritten without the spin. No framing. No omissions. Just the facts.
Read today’s stories