Ketanji Brown Jackson Narrative Trends
A closer look at the trends driving the confirmation for Supreme Court candidate Ketanji Brown Jackson
Since her nomination in February, U.S. Media has been fascinated by Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and her upcoming confirmation to the Supreme Court.
In typical fashion, media outlets on both sides of the political spectrum have been pushing specific narratives in an attempt to either keep Brown Jackson out of the seat or usher her in. Kudzu Narrative Intelligence Briefs show the disparity in coverage among right-leaning and left-leaning outlets.
In the past week, left-oriented media has circulated 347 stories involving Judge Brown Jackson, edging out right-oriented outlets’ 289. Raw Story is the leading amplifier of left-leaning articles, while Fox News leads the right with 29 articles amplified in the last week.
Understandably, the key phrases on both sides primarily focus on the ongoing confirmation hearings, but the difference is found in the details of the confirmation.
Left-oriented outlets contained 201 mentions of the phrase “black woman.” Right-oriented media mentioned the same key phrase only 91 times, almost 30% less than the Left’s coverage. This suggests that more conservative outlets are not focusing as much on Kejanti Brown Jackson’s race, while the Left is emphasizing it more.
Additionally, the left-leaning Kudzu brief reveals the key phrase “first black woman,” a term that is mentioned 95 times, but noticeably absent among the top right-leaning key phrases.
“Child pornography” and “child porn” is mentioned a combined 288 times in the right-leaning brief, stemming from the accusation that Judge Brown Jackson has been historically lenient on criminal cases dealing with child pornography and sex offenders. The left-leaning brief also tracked those key phrases, but only tallied 101 mentions.
Both sides’ keywords had multiple iterations of the term “critical race theory.”
A smaller but interesting narrative trend among the left-oriented media was the topic of gay marriage, which appeared among the top keywords as “gay rights” and “same-sex marriage.” Neither of these appeared among the right-oriented media.
Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson continues to be the focal point of U.S. Media, and the narratives will only grow until her confirmation vote. These Kudzu briefs, right and left, will automatically update as the nomination narrative continues to unfold.
