Keyword Analysis of Biased Words Used by CNN and FoxNews (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,0, Free University of Berlin, language: English, abstract: I want to analyze the linguistic features the networks use to present their news by scrutinizing linguistic bias of two networks that cover different sides of the political spectrum - CNN and FOX News. I will perform a keyword analysis on a corpus that consists of texts from the mentioned networks' websites with the topic Donald Trump. The analysis will display the different rate of use of biased words by both networks by comparing the keyword lists to a bias lexicon.

Throughout the last century, the presentation of news has changed considerably. Media like radio and television opened it to a new field of technological progress and therefore a greater accessibility for the population. The increasing importance of news and its ubiquitous presence induced a field of linguistic research that occupies itself with the critical analysis of language in news. In recent years the internet contributed to the many variations of news presentation, as it catalyzed the digital revolution. Newspapers and networks can now further publish their news in the world wide web.