Abstract
This study investigates how major media outlets, particularly CNN and Fox News, presented the “Unite the Right Rally” in Charlottesville Virginia. A computer-assisted content analysis was conducted on 1-week online news articles about the rally from the two networks. Evidence from Topic Modeling and Sentiment analysis suggests that CNN and Fox News share similarities in reporting the rally regardless of their target audiences. The findings demonstrate the efforts made by the media to uphold color-blindness ideology, underplay racial conflict, and subtly normalize white supremacy. The main contribution of this paper lies in (a) offering empirical evidence of media effect, (b) extending the examination of media effect from traditional forms to the online platform, (c) reexamining the political leaning the media posits, and (d) bridging media study and color-blind racism.
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