Blog 11: Trump Holds a Rally at Madison Square Garden... Is He Overrepresented?: FoxNews vs. CNN

The 2024 presidential election is coming up SO soon…. which also means it is crunch time for the candidates to be rallying up voters. This week, Trump held a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City and both FoxNews and CNN have covered this huge event. In this week’s blog, I want to talk about how the two channels write about this event, and also discuss if the amount we are seeing of Trump on the news is overrepresentation. 

The FoxNews article, Trump supporters converge on Madison Square Garden ahead of highly-anticipated rally: 'Iconic' | Fox News, starts off with New York Republican Representative Elise Stefanik reporting to FoxNews from inside Madison Square Garden. She explains how electric this campaign has been and how she could feel the excitement radiating off the supporters in the arena. FoxNews continues to show their support for Trump, “Stefanik told Fox Digital that Trump could win the massive state, saying Vice President Kamala Harris is underperforming with voters in New York swing districts” (Colton et al, 2024). The article also includes the possibility that Trump can possibly win New York, because of how much Harris is underperforming Joe Biden in the swing districts. FoxNews is clearly showing the excitement around Trump holding a rally in this huge arena that holds 19,500 people. There is no slander or any harsh remarks towards Trump in this article, but only quotes from individuals who strongly believe Trump will win the election.

In the CNN article, Trump unveils the most extreme closing argument in modern presidential history | CNN Politics, there is a completely different tone and narrative. The titles even show more into how each news channel is depicting this rally at Madison Square Garden. For example, this is a statement found in the article, “Much of Trump’s speech brimmed with falsehoods and exaggerations” (Collinson, 2024). There is also a greater focus on how Trump has spoken about migrants at the rally in a negative light. The next section of the article explains how Harris plans to have a closing argument at a rally on Tuesday in Washington. CNN’s recounting of Trump’s rally clearly has a more negative depiction, but the article does close with explaining how each candidate is working towards the goal of winning. This is different to the FoxNews article because it only spoke highly of Trump, yet negatively about Kamala Harris. 

The overrepresentation of Donald Trump in both CNN and Fox News can be analyzed through the lens of media bias and the networks' respective political leanings. Both networks dedicate significant coverage to Trump, but the way in which they represent him, the tone they use, and the context of their reporting differ according to their ideological perspectives. In summary, both CNN and Fox News overrepresent Donald Trump, but in markedly different ways. CNN focuses on Trump’s authoritarian tendencies and his perceived threat to democracy, often painting him as a dangerous figure. Fox News, by contrast, presents Trump as a leader who embodies conservative values and opposes the political establishment, with a more favorable portrayal of his actions and policies. These biased representations reflect the networks' political leanings and cater to their respective audiences, making Trump a central figure in the political discourse within both media environments.