Saturday’s New York Times featured the paper unwittingly showing its anti-Trump tilt, with a full-page "story" featuring the first 99 days of headlines from its coverage of the Trump Administration, in “(Almost) 100 Days Of Front Page Headlines About No. 45.”
While the Times obviously thinks its headlines stand by themselves as some objective and reliable historical recording of the ebb and flow of the Trump Administration, in fact the word, subject, and tonal choices reveal a political double standard.
Of the 99 lead story headlines that have appeared in print during that period, virtually all (95) involved Trump or his administration in some way. A subjective analysis determined that 10 of those were positive headlines, 35 neutral, and 50 negative, for a negative-positive ratio of 5:1.
By contrast, there were very few negative headlines for Obama’s first 100 days in 2009 (headline comparisons for Obama and President George W. Bush only appeared in the online version), and somewhat less obsession with Obama in headlines than the paper had with Trump. While the first headline of the Trump term was neutral (“Trump, Sworn In, Issues A Call: This American Carnage Stops”) the first of the Obama administration was celebratory: “Obama Takes Oath, and Nation in Crisis Embraces the Moment.” The headline that appeared on Day 3(!) of the Trump Administration: “Trump’s Rocky Start Jeopardizes Leverage.” Already?
Another glimpse of the double standard are these headlines, the first pair from Obama 2009, the second from Trump 2017, both involving ways to stimulate the economy, Obama through government spending, Trump via tax cuts.
Obama: “As Jobs Vanish, Senators Reach Deal on Stimulus” and “Economic Dive Deepens, Giving Stimulus Urgency.”
Trump: “Tax Overhaul Would Aid Wealthiest” and “Economy Grows At Slowest Rate In 3 Years: 0.7%.”
Notice that there was no “...Giving Tax Cuts Urgency” to be found in the Times’ coverage of Trump’s tax plan.
