Putting My Degree to Use

In light of the recent controversy surrounding Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy and One America News Network, my curiosity spiked. I had seen various clips and criticism of OANN before, typically showcasing outlandish rants or pro-Donald Trump propaganda, but I had never bothered to watch more than those clips for myself. After finding out that DirecTV carried the channel, I decided to see what it was all about for myself.

Considering that I majored in Media Studies at USF and have a fancy piece of paper to prove it, it provided a great opportunity for me to do some content analysis. While there are plenty of discussions on whether it was appropriate for Gundy to promote the network, whether it was right for running back Chuba Hubbard to call out his head coach via Twitter or to speak up about it at all and multiple critiques and analyses of the apology videos and discussions in the aftermath, there wasn't much examining OANN itself, so I did some digging.

It's worth noting that I entered this without bias in favor or opposition of either of the major American political parties, thus making my observations as close to neutral as possible.

Observations

I turned the channel on just after noon on Monday (June 15), when one of their regular news segments, just known as "One America News", was on. It was hosted by a woman named Jennifer Franco, and I was quickly surprised to see acknowledgement of how racism correlates with unemployment in minority communities, as well as looking at reactions to a law in Hungary that took away protections for transgender people, both stories that I wouldn't have expected to appear on a network with such an ultra-conservative reputation. Rather than focus on a couple of major stories, they quickly whipped through multiple newsworthy items, ranging from members of the Chicago Police Department working 12-hour shifts to the death of a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer and the resumption of flights by easyJet, which competes with RyanAir for dominance of the European low-cost airline market. I've joked that saying "the media won't show you this" guarantees exponentially more retweets and shares, and OAN did shed light on a few headlines that some of the conventional major outlets wouldn't bother to broadcast.

While the stories about officers could be construed as promoting an agenda, there were only factual statements made during the brief pieces, rather than the sort of things that come out of Facebook pages like Mad World News. The bias only became apparent during an interview with Vernon Jones, a Black Democratic Representative from Georgia who endorsed Trump in April. Through watching the shows hosted by Franco and Greta Wall, it became clear that the network emphasized the presence of Black Trump supporters, which make up a very small portion of his base and were in turn overrepresented.

After the stories started to loop around, I turned away but checked back in a few hours later during "After Hours with Alex Salvi". The network's bias was much more blatant during the interview Salvi had with Tim Murtaugh, the Director of Communications for Trump's campaign. The questions Salvi asked were clearly meant to show Joe Biden as incompetent.

I also checked back in on Thursday (June 18) during "Tipping Point", the show that had been making rounds for host Liz Wheeler's comments on the Black Lives Matter movement. When I tuned in, Wheeler was discussing the death of Rayshard Brooks, accusing Brooks of being the sole perpetrator in the incident.

Findings and Conclusions

While OAN's bias became clear after a couple hours, it's not like the channel spends the entire time simply trying to ensure Trump's re-election. In fact, I rather enjoyed their tendency to give a wide scope of stories instead of choosing to zone in on one or two, something that USC professor Marty Kaplan noted in his analysis of the network in 2016. When OAN wasn't pushing an agenda through extremely biased talk shows (this is, after all, the network where Tomi Lahren got her start), the wide range of quick hits on headlines was a nice change of pace. If networks with less bias used such a format, it would make for excellent delivery of objective, unbiased news.

As for the bias, though: It's not like OAN is the only network to endorse or cheer for a political candidate, but Trump isn't an ordinary candidate. His repeated quotes disparaging minority communities separate him from a typical politician, and it's why there wouldn't be such uproar if a coach was endorsing a network that was openly campaigning for, say, Mitt Romney or John McCain. Therein lies the difference between support for OAN and support for something like CNN or MSNBC, and it's something that would hardly be an issue if it wasn't in the era of one of the most divisive political candidates America has seen in generations.

Other than that, I also made a couple other minor observations: During a story about Americans receiving more pay from unemployment than their jobs, they used very cheesy stock footage instead of high-quality B-roll, the sort of stuff I'd expect to see on a YouTube video rather than a TV news network. The production elements lagged behind many other competitors, which certainly doesn't help with credibility.

In all, the OAN issue is complicated. I can see why Trump supporters gravitate to it, as it reinforces their views, and I can also see why people who can detect the bias and understand what's objective versus subjective would watch it. Again, I'd love to see less biased networks touch on a wide range of headlines, rather than give every last detail of one main story.

I fully understand why Hubbard was upset with Gundy, as promoting OAN at this time is analogous to wearing a "Make America Great Again" shirt or hat. However, not everything the network does should be condemned, just as not every decision made by the Trump administration should be labeled as a negative simply because it came from Trump's administration. It requires thought and examination, rather than instantly umping to conclusions, and unfortunately, Trump's America tries to take people away from nuanced thought and closer to extremism. As is quoted in the credits of Evan Hadfield's videos on YouTube channel Rare Earth, "Don't let anyone think for you; most people can barely think for themselves."