Coverage gaps: four stories one side covered far more than the other

Covered more on the right: the Minnesota fraud announcement. On Oct. 30, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, FBI Director Kash Patel and other federal officials held an event in St. Cloud, Minnesota, after agents carried out 17 search warrants the day before. Officials said four people were arrested and a 26-count indictment accuses defendants of taking more than $41 million from Medicaid and other aid programs. Bessent blamed Gov. Tim Walz for weak oversight; Walz's office called the event a political show and said the state has been fighting fraud for years.

Who covered it: Fox News carried the event live and the New York Post wrote it up. Minnesota outlets, including MPR News, the Star Tribune and CBS's Minneapolis station, covered it, but our searches found no national stories from CNN, The New York Times or The Washington Post.

Covered more on the left: Trump's conditional answer on midterm results. On Oct. 27, asked by reporters whether he would accept the Nov. 3 midterm results, President Trump said he would respect them 'if they're honest elections.' He did not say how he would judge that. His supporters point to the administration's ongoing voter-fraud cases as the reason for the condition; his critics say it sets up a reason to reject a loss.

Who covered it: The Washington Post and HuffPost wrote stories focused on the quote, and C-SPAN carried the video. On the right-leaning side, the only coverage we found was a mention in a Washington Examiner live blog; our searches found no Fox News or New York Post story on it.

Covered more on the left: the AP count of Iranian damage to US bases. On Oct. 31 the Associated Press published an analysis finding that Iranian and Iran-backed strikes damaged or destroyed buildings at 26 US military sites through August, in more than 115 attacks. Iran first went after early-warning radars, which spot incoming missiles, and then hit aircraft, hangars and troop buildings. AP said the damage runs into the billions of dollars and is not counted in the Pentagon's $47.1 billion estimate of the war's cost. The Pentagon said US forces and bases were 'well protected.'

Who covered it: The Washington Post and ABC News ran the AP analysis, and NBC News has reported that the damage was bigger than officials have said. On the right-leaning side, Fox News covered a related angle, a Republican lawmaker's warning that commercial satellite photos may have helped Iran aim, but our searches found no Fox News, New York Post or Washington Examiner story on AP's damage findings.

How outlets framed it: Where both sides did cover a story, the framing differed. The Star Tribune's headline on the Minnesota event said officials 'echo GOP campaign attacks,' while the New York Post led with officials saying 'we're kicking butt.' The Washington Post's ghost-student headline said 'alleged' students, while the New York Post's highlighted money 'sent to Kenyan safari outfit.'

Stories were chosen by the size of the gap in coverage between outlets that lean right and outlets that lean left, not by topic or side. Wire services such as AP, Reuters and AFP are counted as neither side.