The word “controversial” is often a word used to signal to viewers that someone is politically radioactive. So naturally, the liberal minds in “public” broadcasting must use it in a tilted way.
To see if there was a biased trend, a Nexis search of PBS News Hour transcripts from November 1, 2024 through April 20, 2025 showed the adjective “controversial” was almost completely reserved for Donald Trump and his cabinet appointees in statements by PBS journalists. (We did not include a few uses of the word by guests.)
In 54 uses of the C-word on PBS in this study period, 45 of them (83 percent) were applied to Team Trump or the Republicans. For Democrats, President Biden drew one “controversial” on January 3 for his decision to block Nippon Steel’s attempt to buy US Steel – a position he shared with Trump! That’s 45 to 1. Put an asterisk…
