The most insidious expression of opinion in news articles is often called “implicit bias,” or “bias by omission.”
Shootings of civilians by police officers in the USA are usually very polarizing events. Conservatives and the police officials tend to give the officer every benefit of the doubt, while liberals usually demand an open investigation. To illustrate, we can review some articles around a not-too-recent shooting, the murder of citizen Botham Jean by police officer Amber Guyger in Dallas, Texas during the night of September 6, 2018.Murder of Botham Jean - Wikipedia
The facts of the shooting are mostly undisputed. Guyer, a uniformed white female patrol officer, after 12 hours on the job, mistakenly entered Jean's apartment, thinking it was her own, and fatally shot him as he, a black male, attempted to stand up from a sitting position on his sofa. Jean, mortally wounded, collapsed instantly. Rather than attempt to render assistance to the victim, Guyger called 911 for an ambulance.
When the media got wind of the story there was a lot of immediate speculation as to reasons this could have occurred. Conservative media focused on justification, as the officer reported "fearing for her life." Other sources focused on the chain of errors committed by Guyger that led to the fatal shooting. Rather than being arrested at the scene and given a toxicology screening, Guyger was allowed to return to her home. There were many attempts to justify the shooting, and a warrant to search the victim’s apartment was issued.
Here is one of the early reports about the shooting:
Dallas officer goes home to wrong apartment, kills man inside
As the media outlets began to choose sides, the bias became more evident, Here is a later story that tried to elicit public sympathy for the officer during her trial for murder:
‘I was scared to death’: Ex-Dallas cop Amber Guyger sobs on stand over Botham Jean shooting
News sources that were concerned with obtaining justice for the victim were usually focused on the victim’s family, or on details of the event that showed the officer in a more culpable light, such as this one:
'Very fast to shoot:' Botham Jean's family attorney reacts to 911 recording
When evidence emerged that the officer was racially biased, charges were escalated from manslaughter to murder. Many news articles focused on the life of Botham Jean, some portraying him as a victim of racism, others almost suggesting that there were valid reasons for shooting him.
Conservative host said ‘God chose Amber Guyger’ to kill Botham Jean (video)
note: Even after the trial which found Guyger guilty of murder, witnesses who testified against the officer suffered intimidation and retaliation. One witness was killed a week later near his own home, although the killing has never been officially linked to the Guyger case.
Original question: What is an example of two news articles covering the same story, but having widely different opinions on it?
Footnotes