Breitbart and the Generic Congressional Ballot
Breitbart is an American news, opinion and commentary website which has not only become known for its far-right biases but also its intentionally misleading stories that contain a number of falsehoods, as well as a number of conspiracies. It is clear that the journalist on Breitbart are highly ideologically driven and attempt to not only cater to a far-right viewership, but intend to also maintain their attention to their platform through false stories and propaganda.
The article, “GOP Takes Lead on Generic Congressional Ballot; Trump Job Approval Hits 47%”, is one that was not only published on their platform, but was also shared on the publication’s Facebook page. Although the Facebook post received over 2,400 likes, many were reactions with a ‘laughing’ emoji, indicating that those who reacted to the post were also mocking it and being critical of it, as they should be. The article shows a clear bias towards far-right supporters and makes all attempts to discuss information in a manner that would be made more easily digestible to this audience.
The article discusses how the GOP manages to grab +1 on the generic poll, while also mentioning how the Democrats have usually sustained leads of 2 to 20. The article begins discussing the ballot in a clear and concise manner but then slowly begins with the bashing of the Democratic party. It highlights any success of Donald Trump, despite the fact that it is a mild achievement (very mild, even mild is putting it on a bit thick), while at the same time bashing what they call “Far-left” polling outfits. It also states that this change on the polling is due to the trustworthiness of the Republican party while the Democrats “are widely seen as obstructionists… as the party that shut down the government in response to a reasonable and popular compromise”. It is clear that the article is trying to sing a bias for the GOP while trying to highlight any weak characteristics of the Democratic party.
The article finishes off with this: “while the disgraced American media has been obsessed with overturning Trump’s election using shrill nonsense that declares everything Watergate and the end of democracy, the public is obviously growing tired of all this fake news. After more than a year of this propaganda and not a shred of evidence pointing to any wrongdoing committed by Trump or his campaign, other than rabid left-wing partisans, voters are tuning out the media’s hysterical white noise and looking instead at the actual job Trump is doing — and more and more of them obviously like what they see”.
The article is quick to stop telling the audience factual evidence and come to the defence of Donald Trump. The author also abandons all objective journalism to begin bashing other news outlets and defend Donald Trump, while not being afraid to use the words “Fake News”, “shrill nonsense”, and “hysterical white noise”. All the while of reading through this article, it is hard to ignore the multiple advertisements for Gavin McInnes’ show Get Off My Lawn. McInnes is an ex-member of Vice Media, and since leaving he has become known for his right-wing political views and being a founder of the Proud boys, a far-right men’s organization, which gives some idea of what type of media Breitbart likes to associate itself with. The rest of the advertisements are clickbait articles that read headlines such as “The Blue Pill is Doomed! Forget About ED, Do This Instead!” and, “Millions of People Are Cancelling Their Netflix Accounts Because of This One Site”.
This article clearly performed well with viewers who oppose the Democratic party and are supporters of the GOP regardless of factual evidence that is brought to them. It is also clear that this viewer supports the Trump administration while being highly oppositional towards left-wing political views as well as media that opposes their political beliefs, things that this viewer might class “Far-left” and “Fake News”. For any viewer that comes from these political biases, this article caters exactly to them. The writer only writes about solid fact for a few short paragraphs right before they begin to bash other media outlets, while also praising the Trump administration without any regard for the need of factual proof to support that appraise. By telling these viewers exactly what they want to hear rather than need to hear is why Breitbart has found so much of its success. Breitbart is an outlet filled with bias and misconception, a place where even the sports articles can lead to a slandering of the Democratic party.
The article can be read here:
