Political Bias on BBC, CNN, and Fox News - Doria

ing in more revenue by spurring economic growth), the Republican counter-
argument to the Democratic critique in the Fox News article focuses on attitudes and
blame (e.g. with that kind of attitude, there's little chance a deal could be struck and
there won't be a deal when the Democrats are being instructed not to make one).
Based on these isolated incidences, no definitive conclusions can be drawn. A slight
suggestion of bias, however, remains - again in concurrence with the hypothesis
mainly in the sense that Fox News seems to resort to immaturity in its attempts to
present Democrats in a negative light. This analysis is speculative at best.
The number of Democrats and Republicans occurring in Theme position also
warrants more investigation. Similar to Themes about the plans, Themes about the
two political parties also contain no patterns, regardless of considering both the
Theme and Rheme. Instead, the total number of references to and quotes by
Democrats and Republicans are examined. The BBC article has 8 of the former and 5
of the latter (61.5 and 38.5 percent respectively), the CNN article has 20 and 21 (or
48.8 and 51.2 percent respectively), and the Fox News article has 6 and 12
(respectively, 33.3 and 66.7 percent). Based on this it seems that CNN is most
balanced and objective, while BBC veers to the left and Fox News to the right on the
political continuum.
When considering the political parties further, the concept of blame becomes of
interest. By examining who is featured as the guilty party in the breakdown of
negotiations, be it through quotes or other means of presenting such a viewpoint, bias
may be revealed. The BBC article features only one relevant sentence, and in it the
blame falls on both parties: Republicans are reluctant to concede tax rises unless
Democrats agree to reduce social entitlements, correspondents say. This suggests
objectivity and corresponds with the hypothesis. CNN's article twice indicates shared
guilt, twice (28.6 percent) indicates Democratic guilt, and thrice (42.6 percent)
indicates Republican guilt (e.g. That was not a serious proposal referring to the
Republican proposal). This suggests marginal liberal bias. The Fox News article,
furthermore, thrice indicates shared guilt (e.g. the fault lies on all sides), twice (33.3
percent) indicates Democratic guilt, and once (16.7 percent) indicates Republican
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