A Headline which paints the government in a negative light and causes public uncertainty.

• Bias by omission: The headline fails to convey the fact that although technically there is no guarantee, the government is very confident that a vaccine will be available by the end of 2020. This causes people to interpret that progress is not being made to find a vaccine.

• Bias by spin: The headline does not state who the statement “‘Hopefully’ Under 100,000 Deaths” belongs too, this causes the public to antagonise the government as a whole.

• Bias by spin: The headline adds quotations around “Hopefully” and capitalises the word ‘still’, causing uninformed viewers to believe that government officials are at a loss and that the situation is beyond their control.

 

The same article, but with a biased headline leaning to the other side:

• Bias by omission: Trump stated that the death toll will be between 75,000 and 100,000. By only stating the lower limit, and using the word ‘only’, the headline is able to instil a sense of security, that the situation is better than expected.

• Bias by a selection of sources: The headline states that a vaccine will likely be ready by the end of the year, however, this is only Trump’s perspective. Majority of scientists have stated that it will require 12-18 months more for a vaccine to be ready.