Pictures from the primaries: Black presidential hopefuls and representation differences across the media bias and reliability spectrum

This study explored bimodal news coverage of Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, the two leading Black candidates during the Democratic Primaries of the 2020 election season to set a point of comparison for how news media cover Black candidates. We analyzed emotional tone in images and headlines that appeared in coverage from online news platforms varying in political leanings and reliability. Results show that conservative-leaning outlets were more likely to lead news with negative headlines and emotionally expressive images of candidates than liberal-leaning media. Topics like political agendas and polling were more likely to be covered by lower-reliability organizations.