Running head: DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 1

Is Donald Trump portrayed in a more positive way by conservative media news images in

comparison to liberal media news images?

Julia Silver

Loyola Marymount University

Professor Jason Jarvis

March 3, 2017

DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 2

Is Donald Trump portrayed in a more positive way by conservative media news images in

comparison to liberal media news images?

Background

Image framing having to do with the presidency is controversial, regardless of party

public approval ratings, or any other factors. Images of presidents are taken to display

dominance, assert realities, target audiences, evoke emotions, announce agendas, or even divert

attention (Erickson, 2000). More specifically, though, there seems to be a media war surrounding

Donald Trump in his presidency. A significant part of this war pertains to the way he is portrayed

by the media. He often speaks in a negative fashion about the media as a whole, but he

particularly despises liberal media outlets such as MSNBC. In an interview with Bill O’Reilly,

Donald Trump noted that he believes the media portray him in a deceitful way solely because of

the fact that the media are generally sided towards the left (“Trump Rips Liberal Media,” 2017).

In an article posted by National Public Radio (NPR), journalist Danielle Kurtzleben (2017) is

highly critical of the media survey that was released by the Trump administration, claiming that

it was biased, incomplete, and phony. Although Kurtzleben does provide evidence as to how the

survey was indeed biased, her article is very critical of Trump, thus making it biased in the other

direction—exemplifying Trump’s claim that the media are sided to the left. The rationale behind

my study exists in the fact that there is heavy controversy that exists within media representation

through images, especially regarding Trump.

My research question is as follows: is Donald Trump portrayed in a more positive way by

conservative media news images in comparison to liberal media news images? This is a

significant question to consider in that firstly, it is vital to know that different news outlets do

indeed portray different subjects in different lights—as is the case with Donald Trump. This is

DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 3

important because it aids in being aware enough to recognize that the media is biased and that

outside fact-checking and verification is needed on both sides of the spectrum.

A study done by He, Xianhong, and Xing (2012) analyzed the ways in which the United

States was depicted by five separate Chinese newspapers. The images shown in the newspaper

articles were analyzed by “their issue salience, the undertones, the causal relations, and the

orientations of explicit and implicit moral perspectives” (He et al., 2012). Of their findings, the

most compelling results have to do with the United States being represented culturally to be a

free and advanced land, yet biased and oppressive at the same time. This study is comparable to

the one I have conducted in that it shows that analyzing images in the manner that they are

framed is extremely telling as to how a culture (in my case, a person) can be represented.

Methodology

The news sources I chose were Fox News, Breitbart, and MSNBC. I chose these three

because Fox News and Breitbart are more conservative news outlets while MSNBC is more

liberal. I wanted to compare these sources in that way. When choosing the photos to include, I

searched the news coverage from each site from major events that have occurred since mid-

November. This included the election results, inauguration, release of executive orders, and

more. The only slight problem that I faced was that most of the images (from all three sources)

primarily consisted of close-ups. This made it slightly more difficult to code the images and find

patterns, but it was possible nonetheless.

In terms of choosing which category to code with first, I chose expression of emotions.

This is related to the specific emotions that are shown (or not shown) to exist in Trump through

his face and body language. Secondly, I chose communication with viewer. Does Trump seem to

be connecting and or communicating with the viewer? Where is his gaze focused? Does he make

DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 4

eye contact with the camera? Thirdly, I selected social interaction. This is related to who Trump

is associating with (or not associating with) in these images. Does the interaction look positive?

I chose these three criteria because they seemed to be the most representative of categories that

would be important in portraying a president—whether that be in a positive or negative light.

These coding criteria were indeed useful in answering my research question. Potential limitations

exist within this research methodology in that there can be different interpretations of all three of

these categories. To one person it may look as though Trump looks stern and unfriendly, to

another it may look as though he is professional and confident. Furthermore, limitations exist in

the fact that biased news sources will continue to exist regardless of studies that find that they

portray issues drastically different from each other.

Findings

In regard to expression of emotion, 40% of the photos from Fox News consisted of

Trump smiling like in image 5 (Fox News, 2016).

0% of their photos express him having a mean or harsh demeanor. 40% of Breitbart’s photos

display Trump smiling. 100% of their photos display him to be confident through his stance and

assertive facial expressions. 80% of MSNBC’s photos exhibit Trump looking angry or

unsatisfied as shown in image 25 (MSNBC, 2017).

Image 5Fox News20 November 2016

DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 5

MSNBC portrays Trump to look very assertive—almost harsh and demeaning. This shows

through the angle in which the camera is angled from below, as well as the way his eyebrows are

positioned downward in 70% of the photos. 0% of MSNBC’s photos show Trump smiling.

In terms of communication with viewers, 50% of the photos by Fox News display Trump

communicating with the viewer. The viewer may perceive him as being assertive, confident, and

not slightly timid. This is displayed through his eye contact, mouth position, and hand

positioning. In 100% of Breitbart’s photos, Trump is exhibited to be a very presidential and

professional man like in image 19 as he is giving an official speech in formal attire to a large

audience.

50% of Breitbart’s photos display him speaking to an audience, as well as 100% of the photos

picture Trump wearing a formal suit. 0% of the photos from MSNBC show Trump making eye

contact. 60% of their photos show Trump using his hands through gestures. Of all three of these

30 images, only one image shows Trump making eye contact with the camera. The three news

Image 25MSNBC16 February 2017

Image 19Breitbart8 February 2017

DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 6

outlets are similar in that they do not often share images of Trump looking into the lens of the

camera.

For social interaction, Fox News showed 20% of their images of Trump interacting with

others directly in the frame. He seems to be interacting with others in 100% of the photos, yet in

80% of them, he is the only one in the frame. Breitbart shows Trump with others in 40% of its

images. He seems to be interacting with others in 80% of the photos, but only 40% show him

directly with other people in the frame. Breitbart displays Trump having positive social

interaction in all of the photos in which he is interacting. 62.5% of the total photos of Trump

interacting involve him speaking to a crowd, and 25% of those photos show him speaking at a

rally for his supporters. MSNBC shows Trump to be alone in 100% of their photos. There is one

photo in which he is talking on the phone in a formal dining situation—image 28.

In all three news sources, Trump is displayed by a majority of the photos to be alone in the

frame. I discovered that my research question could begin to be explored by examining these

three coding categories, but needed more information and data to truly be answered.

Implications

My findings show that these three news sources do indeed frame Donald Trump

differently. Fox News and Breitbart most definitely present Trump in a more positive light than

MSNBC. This is apparent in their much more frequent use of images in which he is smiling,

looks personable, or is speaking to an audience of supporters. MSNBC portrays him much less

Image 28MSNBC15 February 2017

DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 7

positively—almost harshly. Of my sample, none of their photos showed Trump smiling, or even

looking at all approachable or benign. This, to me, shows the obvious partiality towards Trump

that exists between conservative and liberal media outlets. The conservative outlets depict Trump

in a more professional and welcoming fashion because he aligns with their beliefs for the most

part. The opposite is true on the other side, as MSNBC, a liberal media outlet, did not show

Trump in a positive light through their images as he does not align with their beliefs.

This study only contains data from thirty images from three different news sources—

thus, it is too small of a sample too be at all generalizable. This is the case because the number of

images produced and published of Donald Trump in the past four months is extremely vast and

again, cannot be represented comprehensively by thirty images. To expand knowledge of this

research, more images should be analyzed to discover more generalizable results. In addition to

finding a larger sample, different and/or more criteria could be examined in terms of how the

images are coded. Further research regarding visual framing, especially surrounding elections,

will be extremely vital as modern elections are assembled visually (Grabe & Bucy, 2009).

Furthermore, “[v]isual portrayals facilitate different levels of intimacy between candidates and

viewers, highlight appealing or unappealing personal attributes of candidates, and have the

potential to craft enduring images that affect electoral support” (Grabe & Bucy, 2009, p. 85).

Thus, I would argue that it is imperative to build upon this study solely because of the fact that

visual framing is so impactful on the public surrounding elections.

DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 8

References

Batziou, A. (2011). Framing 'otherness' in press photographs: The case of immigrants in Greece

and Spain. Journal of Media Practice, 12(1), 41-60.

Erickson, K. (2000). Presidential rhetoric's visual turn: Performance fragments and the politics of

illusionism. Communication Monographs, 67(2), 138-157.

Grabe, M. E., & Bucy, E. P. (2009). Image bite politics: News and the visual framing of

elections. New York: Oxford University Press.

He, Z., Xianhong, C., & Xing, W. (2012). The image of the United States in the Chinese media:

An examination of the evaluative component of framing. Public Relations Review, 38,

676-683.

Kurtzleben, D. (2017, February 17). The Trump media survey is phenomenally biased. It’s slso

useful. NPR. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2017/02/17/515791540/the-trump-

media-survey-is-phenomenally-biased-it-also-does-its-job-well

Trump rips liberal media: They always pull the 'racist card' on conservatives. (2017, February 7).

Fox News Insider. Retrieved from http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/02/07/bill-oreilly-

president-donald-trump-super-bowl-interview-media-voter-fraud

DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 9

Appendix

1.

2.

3.

Fox News

15 February 2017

Fox News

16 February 2017

Fox News

21 January 2017

DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 10

4.

5.

6.

7.

Fox News

14 February 2017

Fox News

20 November 2016

Fox News

28 November 2016

Fox News

24 January 2017

DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 11

8.

9.

10.

11.

Fox News

6 January 2017

Fox News

19 December 2016

Fox News

13 December 2016

Breitbart

27 November 2016

DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 12

12.

13.

14.

Breitbart

18 December 2016

Breitbart

16 December 2016

Breitbart

16 December 2016

DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 13

15.

16.

17.

Breitbart

3 February 2017

Breitbart

20 January 2017

Breitbart

16 February 2017

DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 14

18.

19.

20.

Breitbart

15 February 2017

Breitbart

8 February 2017

Breitbart

16 February 2017

DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 15

21.

22.

23.

24.

MSNBC

18 January 2017

MSNBC

8 January 2017

MSNBC

16 February 2017

MSNBC

28 November 2016

DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 16

25.

26.

27.

28.

MSNBC

16 February 2017

MSNBC

16 February 2017

MSNBC

16 February 2017

MSNBC

15 February 2017

DONALD TRUMP IN CONSERVATIVE VS. LIBERAL MEDIA 17

29.

30.

MSNBC

13 February 2017

MSNBC

9 January 2017