Many of us thought 2020 would be a big year and it was, just not how we expected. A year mainly overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting heavily people all around the globe. The U.S., the country with the highest number of cases that just a few days ago surpassed the 200,000 deaths, and with hundreds of protests due to racial injustices, has led to an interesting year in politics.

I chose to track the news media outlet, CNN, in the following weeks leading to the U.S. Elections between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. I will analyze the focus of the news provided by CNN for both parties and how it develops as the elections come closer.

Today I want to focus on the general layout of the CNN 2020 Election page. If you are a new user, you must go to CNN Politics and there you’ll find the different sections of information for the 2020 presidential election. 

I believe CNN’s page is straightforward and concise. It provides on its homepage the basic information on the election, biographical information, fundraising totals, and latest news per candidate and a poll. From the overall layout, I understand that the published content aims to objectivity. But, does it achieve it? Let’s take a look at the section on the homepage.

At first glance, the page provides the reader with the basic information, “Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2020” under the title “America’s Choice 2020”. One of the biggest news surrounding the election, fall right under the title of the main page, which today is ‘Trump tests positive for coronavirus’. I think this small section is important because it keeps people updated with the latest news related to the Elections.

Then, as you scroll down the page, CNN displays three small sections side to side within the homepage. One says ‘Donald Trump’ and shows a portrait of him and right next to it ‘Joe Biden’ with a picture of him as well. Straightforward and easy to understand. And the third section is the ‘CNN Poll of Polls’, representing the national average.

I wonder if under the last section ‘Donald Trump in the News’, ‘Joe Biden in the News’ and CNN Analysis, could run into bias since some of the stories featured are analysis and not only hard news, which is often open to opinion. But, overall I believe CNN’s objective-informative approach keeps the audience engaged and is effective because it provides the latest headlines but data and the use of podcasts as an accessible tool to inform consumers.