The Seattle Seahawks won Super Bowl LX on Sunday, but much of the media coverage leading up to and following the game was about the halftime show. Puerto Rican musician Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, was the official performer chosen by the NFL. Also during halftime, Turning Point USA presented an alternative show featuring Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert and others. Our analysts rated media coverage about both halftime shows in our Topic of the Week.

The most fact-based and minimally biased coverage from our content set came from reporting by CBS News and Complex. Both were found to be “simple fact reporting” with a “middle/balanced” bias.

The article on the CBS News website focuses on the Bad Bunny show, which was performed primarily in Spanish. The article describes the show in detail, including the songs and the surprise performers (Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin). The article includes comments made by Ocasio and reaction from President Trump.

The Complex article features the alternate show by Turning Point USA. It describes the performers at that show and focuses on the closing message from Kid Rock, who paid tribute to Charlie Kirk. The article includes comments that support both the alternate halftime show and the performance by Bad Bunny.

An article published by Deadline is a review of the Bad Bunny show. It describes the performance in detail but also includes opinion statements, calling the show “a complex and compelling success” that “made the day for everyone, Spanish-speaking and otherwise.” It describes the criticism Ocasio faced leading up to the Super Bowl and listed many of the celebrities and businesspeople in attendance. It also describes the alternate halftime show as “lame ass.” Analysts placed the article in the category of “analysis” with a “skews left” bias.

From the right, an article from Daily Mail and a video from the Newsmax show “Finnerty” earned almost identical scores in the categories of “opinion” with a “strong right” bias.

The Daily Mail article proclaims that “millions” of people switched from the Super Bowl halftime to the Turning Point USA show, stating, “The NFL polarized fans with its decision to choose the Puerto Rican rapper and his Spanish-only songs for the big game in San Francisco.” It says that 5 million people watched the alternative halftime show on YouTube after X denied streaming it due to licensing restrictions. It describes Kid Rock’s dedication to Charlie Kirk and includes comments from Bad Bunny, President Trump and a Turning Point USA spokesman. Analysts found that the article gives a “glowing” review of the TPUSA show while criticizing Bad Bunny.

In an interview on the “Finnerty” show recorded prior to the Super Bowl, the host, Rob Finnerty, predicts that Bad Bunny “will definitely say something negative about Donald Trump or ICE or both” during his performance (he didn’t) and encourages people to instead watch the “pro-America, halftime show alternative” presented by Turning Point USA. He interviews Lee Brice, one of the performers at the TPUSA show, who says he isn’t sure if people “need” an alternative halftime show but if people want to turn the channel, then they can. Finnerty suggests several other musicians who he thinks would be better choices for the Super Bowl halftime show. He also asks Brice if Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner, who is “clearly under the control of woke forces,” should resign.

A  video on the Occupy Democrats YouTube channel, also recorded prior to the game, was rated as “opinion” with a “strong left” bias. The video’s headline proclaims, “Super Bowl SURPRISE Just DESTROYED Trump’s ENTIRE NIGHT.” The host says Green Day, which performed the pre-game show, changed its lyrics to say “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda.”  The host reads comments from a parody of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s parody social media account and reads at length from commentary by John Pavlovitz, who says the controversy isn’t just about a Latin artist performing at the Super Bowl: “Trump and his supporters don’t want an alternative halftime show. They want an alternative whitegated community nation where only they benefit.” Analysts noted several examples of inflammatory language, such as “Trump cult” and “MAGA bootlicker Kid Rock.”

New Topics of the Week are posted on the website each Monday. Read the articles and watch the videos yourself, then come back on Wednesday to compare your scores with those of our analysts. Learn more here.