President Donald Trump is blond hair teen sex videosconstantly accusing the media of spreading "fake news," but the content his White House wants you to read is more opinion than fact.
In honor of Trump's one-year election anniversary, we analyzed "West Wing Reads," a newsletter that highlights "the best stories the West Wing is reading," and found that nearly 60 percentof the content over a four-month period was opinion, editorials, or commentary pieces.
After analyzing* 430 links curated by West Wing Reads between June 29 andOct. 30, it's clear that by "best stories," West Wing Reads means the most pro-Trump stories. The newsletter kicked off on June 29.
SEE ALSO: Trump really, really, really wants you to believe he came up with 'fake news'In addition to opinion pieces, the newsletter is heavy on right-wing news sources, and more often than not, it focuses on the economy, taxes, and jobs.
It's no secret that Trump has faced a slurry of negative press since taking office, so it's understandable that the White House would be hawking positive opinion stories to reshape the narrative. The latest Washington Postpoll shows Trump's approval at 37 percent. West Wing Reads acts a bit like a magician, showing you what the White House wants you to see.
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable "The White House cherry picks fawning coverage from the right-wing media fever swamp, curating a selection of pro-Trump propaganda and elevating the voices of serial misinformers and extremists," Media watchdog group Media Matters For America communications director Laura Keiter said in an email. Media Matters has a progressive bent, and often goes after Fox News for its coverage.
Anyone can sign up for West Wing Reads on the White House homepage and receive the daily roundup (excluding weekends and holidays).
We delved deep into the link-filled newsletter to uncover what the Trump White House really wants you to see.
News sources
Across the roughly four months we analyzed, WWR included94 different news outlets. The most linked outlets were The Wall Street Journal,a mainstream media publication,andWashington Times, a generally conservative paper, tied with 36 linkseach. In distant third was the Washington Examiner, a far-right wing outlet,with 28 links. Many (almost a third) of the WSJstories were about the economy, while the Washington Times'links included a wider range of topics, but mostly focused on the economy and health care.
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Trump has been more than vocal about his disdain for the "failing New York Times," the Washington Postand CNN. Still, those news outlets have been included in WWR roundups. The New York Timeswas linked 10 times, and the Washington Post, 19 times. Although not as frequent, CBS, NBC, and ABC News were also included several times each. Trump's reviled CNN made it in three whole times.
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About half of the outlets featured were only linked once -- those were often regional papers usually from a city Trump or someone from the administration was visiting. Some one-off outlets include: Springfield News-Leader, Stars and Stripes, and Fortune.
The topics
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable To better understand the picture the White House is painting, it's important to note what the content is about, not just where the stories are coming from.
After classifying each link as one of 25 topics (economy, education, health care, foreign policy, the media, etc.), we found the clear winner was the economy. The stories ranged from jobs to the stock market to MAGAnomics to American-based businesses. Out of 430 links, 133 were about the economy-- that's 30 percentof stories. Runners up to the economy were foreign policy (59 links), health care (56) and immigration (42).
Right-leaning
Based on this Right Wing media guide, WWR sourced links from nine far right-wingoutlets for a total of 89 links: Breitbart, the Daily Caller,the Daily Signal, the Federalist, National Review, Newsmax, the Washington Examiner, the Washington Free Beacon, and the Weekly Standard.
Other outlets considered right-wing with a conservative media bias were also linked often. The Washington Timeswas the most linked with 36, followed by Fox News online stories 25 times and the New York Postwith 14 links. Many smaller, obscure outlets like American Commitment, American Thinker,American Greatness, American Action Forum, the Christian Post, and CNS Newshad a smattering of links covering topics from religion to health care to the Republican Party.
What it all means
The news the White House is sharing is highly selective and only shows a portion of the media picture. Any criticism doesn't make it in. Neither does anything unfavorable or highly controversial (like Russian interference in the election). WWR only included four stories about Russia, including this New York Postopinion piece headlined, "Why the latest Russia story is just another Trump witch hunt."
Yes, mainstream news outlets are included occasionally, but usually for something straight news, such as an update on the unemployment rate, like this CNN story, "Milestone for Trump: 1 million new jobs in six months."
Media Matters For America, or MMFA, sees West Wing Reads as another tool for the administration to shape their message. MMFA communications director Keiter said WWR is used to "demean credible reporting and create an alternate -- and completely inaccurate -- reality."
"It's a sign of a dangerous hostility to accountability and the truth."
Keiter sees the link roundup as part of a dangerous media ecosystem the Trump administration is building. "Alone, West Wing Reads could be seen as innocuous spin -- but in this climate, it's a sign of a dangerous hostility to accountability and the truth," she said.
We reached out to the White House to learn more about how WWR gets made and how many people subscribe to the daily email, but no response yet.
Until then, we'll keep scanning our inboxes for the latest hand-picked Trump news and flattering opinion pieces. And maybe the occasional "failing" New York Timesstory.
*Methodology: Mashable reviewed each link included in the newsletter between June 29 and Oct. 30 and marked whether it was an opinion piece or not, what topic it covered, and which news outlet it came from. Each category was then tallied for our analysis.
--Additional data coding by Alison Main
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