Six Democratic lawmakers with a background in the military or U.S. intelligence released a video last week reminding U.S. service members that they must refuse unlawful orders. President Trump then called for the arrest of the six, writing that the video is “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH.” Our analysts rated media coverage about the video and Trump’s reaction to it in our Topic of the Week.

Stars and Stripes, an American military newspaper, provided the most balanced and factful coverage from our content set. The article includes the full video published by the Democratic lawmakers and quotes from it in the story. It also quotes President Trump’s social media messages and a statement from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Analysts found the article to be “simple fact reporting” with a “balanced” bias.

An article from Reuters received similar scores, in the “balanced” category of bias and “mix of fact reporting and analysis” for reliability. The article calls Trump’s reaction to the video “the latest example of him calling for punishment of those he sees as political enemies,” and it includes comments from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

A video from NewsNation’s “On Balance With Leland Vittert” was rated as “analysis” with a “skews right” bias. Vittert plays portions of the Democrats’ video before introducing a retired general and former CIA official to provide analysis. The host says that according to the Constitution, service members “don’t get to not follow orders you don’t like or you may disagree with” even though the Democrats in the video tell the military that “we have your back.” He concludes that the Democrats’ message encourages the military to disobey orders and “puts people’s lives at risk in so many different ways.”

An article from Reason also was found to be “analysis,” but with a “skews left” bias. It calls Trump’s response to the video “characteristically over-the-top” and “authoritarian,” and it confirms that “soldiers … have a duty higher than obedience to the president’s whims.” The article details several controversial military actions taken by Trump and quotes a law professor who questions the legality of the U.S. military’s boat strikes in the Caribbean. The writer doubts the president’s comprehension of the law: “Trump deploys accusations of treason as recklessly as he threatens to yank broadcast licenses, and both habits reflect his intolerance for speech that offends him, which he thinks should be (or already is) illegal. He either does not know or does not care what the crimes of treason and seditious conspiracy actually entail.”

Hosts from ABC’s “The View” focus their analysis on President Trump accusing the Democratic lawmakers of sedition “punishable by death.” Hosts call Trump’s statement “ridiculous” and warn he should not be “ratcheting up the rhetoric,” which can lead to political violence. The hosts agree that the video for the military was necessary because there are things “being done by the administration that are unconstitutional.” This segment from “The View” was rated as “opinion” with a “strong left” bias.

The lowest-rated reporting from our content set came from an article published by Patriot Journal. It applauds the “sacred principle” that “armed forces answer to the elected Commander-in-Chief, not to the shifting winds of partisan politics” and accuses the Democrats who released the video of taking “a sledgehammer to that foundation for a cheap political thrill.” It says the video has an “absolutely bone-chilling message” that “can only be described as a call for mass insubordination.” The writer criticizes the Democrats for seeking security protection following the video release: “This isn’t principled leadership; it’s the petulant whining of children who broke the nation’s most expensive vase and are now crying because they got sent to their room.” Analysts found the writing to be “selective or incomplete/unfair persuasion” with a “hyper-partisan right” bias.

Want to see if you agree with our analysts? New Topics of the Week are posted on the website each Monday. Analyst scores are published on Wednesday. Learn more here.