If you’ve been following former President Donald Trump’s “hush money” case in New York City, then you’ve read or heard news reports last week about the jury selection process. Among the questions that Judge Juan Merchan asked potential jurors was what news sources they follow. 

Ad Fontes Media founder and CEO Vanessa Otero was asked about her reaction to this line of questioning during The Colin McEnroe Show, a podcast presented by Connecticut Public Radio.

“I thought it was fascinating and also insightful because if you’re trying to determine somebody’s bias, their news consumption can be really revelatory,” Otero said.

“There are literally tens of thousands of news and information sources out there now. And that hasn’t always been the case,” she said. “They’re quite niche. You can sort of choose your own reality, unfortunately.”

Otero explained that there are gradients of center, left and right biases, so it’s not as simple as asking someone if they’re a Trump voter or a Biden voter.

“We get forced into that binary by our electoral system. But that really usually doesn’t reflect a person’s true view of the world.”

If someone follows more middle or balanced news sources vs. something on the fringe of the left or right bias scale, that will tell you a lot more about their political viewpoints, she said.

One specific news source is central to the case against Trump — the National Enquirer, which reportedly used “catch-and-kill” tactics prior to the 2016 presidential election to find negative information about Trump, pay sources for the story and then refuse to publish it. The Enquirer’s publisher, David Pecker, began testifying in the case on Monday.

Otero said the National Enquirer has always been one of the lowest reliability sources on the Media Bias Chart®, noting that it falls on the bottom middle of the chart. She explains why that’s unusual and also defines what Ad Fontes Media considers “journalism” (and why analysts also rate many other kinds of information sources) in the podcast. She’s one of three guests on the episode that examines the jury selection process.

If you want to keep up on Otero’s other media appearances, follow the News page of the website, or sign up for our free biweekly newsletter!

Beth Heldebrandt is a Media Research Specialist at Ad Fontes Media. She has more than 30 years of experience in the fields of journalism and public relations, and was an adjunct instructor of journalism for 17 years at Eastern Illinois University. Beth has a B.A. in journalism from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and an M.A. in English from Eastern Illinois University. She’s a mom and grandma, and enjoys traveling, puzzles and reading.