The Driddle Report: Social Media Coverage

One current event getting a great deal of attention is the presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Politics is an area that is incredibly divisive with strong opposing opinions, and that can clearly be seen in news coverage. Some sources have a strong conservative bias like The Drudge Report, while others have a more liberal bias like The Huffington Post. There are those that also try to remain neutral, such as Reuters. Each site is accessible on different platforms and use social media to various levels to get there content out to readers.

The Drudge Report is a news aggregator that pulls stories from other source sites. Since the presidential campaign began, The Drudge Report has displayed articles that predominantly
showcase Donald Trump in a positive light while making Hillary Clinton look like the worst candidate possible. For example, On October 3, 2016, the first item on their homepage is a large image of Hillary, looking angry, with the caption, “ASSANGE COMES FOR HER WIKILEAKS DANGER.”1 When you search “Trump” in their search menu, you’ll get a list of news articles, which are mostly negative with regard to Hillary Clinton and positive about Donald Trump. For example, “Clinton-backing AG targets Trump weeks before election…,” “Farage Tells Trump Avoid Catfight with Hillary,” and “Trump Campaign Newspaper Illegally Obtained Tax Records…”1 These are just a few of the many articles that The Drudge Report has gathered to share throughout the presidential campaign.

(Home page image on The Drudge Report, October 3, 2016)1

The Drudge Report is accessible both online and through their mobile application.
They do post some of their stories on social media, but not regularly. As such, they don’t have many likes, comments, or shares to stories on Facebook with the last story having been posted on September 13, 2016 (https://www.facebook.com/drudgesiren/?fref=ts). This is where they are missing out on getting readers and presumably have an older demographic because of it. As classmates have mentioned throughout our class, many of them follow news pages on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with current news.

(Facebook Page of The Drudge Report. Last post was September 13, 2016 with no “likes” one comment and one
share)(https://www.facebook.com/drudgesiren/?fref=ts)

In comparison with The Drudge Report, The Huffington Post has shared mostly positive stories about Hillary Clinton during the presidential debate and negative stories about Donald Trump. On the Huffington Post homepage, they share a picture of Hillary looking joyful and friendly. Along with the picture they have a story about Donald Trump with the title, “GLASS HALF EMPTY: Narcissistic, Tax-Avoiding Serial Liar Still Has A Shot At The White House…”2 On the Politics page of the Huffington Post, there are a number of articles showing Donald Trump in a negative light. One in particular is “Donald Trump’s Creepy Ogling Of His Daughter Happened More Than You Think.” 2 This article could not be found on The Drudge Report.

(Home page image on The Huffington Post, October 3, 2016)2

(News page on the Huffington Post, on October 3, 2016) 2

It is easy for readers to stay up-to-date on the election on Huffington Post’s mobile application. Immidiately upon opening the application, users see the same article along with Hillary’s positive picture as they do when going to the website’s homepage (on October 3, 2016). The user can access articles relating to the campaign along with staying up-to-date with short video news casts. However, there is not a search on the mobile application so the user has to sort through articles on the homepage or politics section to find articles relating to the presidential campaign. The Huffington Post does a great job posting articles regularly on there Facebook page. Users who follow them on Facebook can see numerous articles in single day on their news feed which bring the reader to their website. (https://www.facebook.com/HuffingtonPost/?fref=ts&ref=br_tf)

Unlike The Drudge Report and Huffington Post, Rueters is a news platform that appears to make an effort to stay neutural.
They do a decent job of sharing facts with their readers rather than opinions. Rueters doesn’t focus on either candidate specifically. Their website and mobile application are accessible and easy to use. As you can see below, the stories are focused on sharing facts and statements made by both candidates. Rueters shares both news articles along with videos from different debates. According to fanpagelist.com, Rueters ranks 13th across all news sites when ranked by number of followers on Facebook and Twitter.3 Their Facebook page is updated multiple times an hour with new news stories keeping there followers
engaged.

(Home page image on Reuters, October 3, 2016. Stories are neutral)4

Personally, I don’t often read the news, however, I do prefer to read something unbiased and draw my own conclusions. I like to acquire facts, not opinions. I also enjoy being able to read news on my mobile device. Reuters mobile app is modern looking and very easy to navigate. On the home page of their app, they organize their information by “Top News” and “The Wire.” The Wire is where they place their Real-Time news. With all the different news platforms out there, its important to understand the goal of the site you’re on otherwise its very easy to be mislead.