Politics in the United States have changed dramatically since the beginning of XXI century: western nations, including the States themselves, are now facing an unprecedented rise of Right-wing populism with its central narrative being “the juxtaposition of a (corrupt) “political class”, “elite” or “establishment” and “the people” as whose sole authentic voice the populist party bills itselfGreven T. The Rise of Right-wing Populism in Europe and the United States [Electronic resource] // Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2016. URL: http://www.fesdc.org/fileadmin/user_upload/publications/RightwingPopulism.pdf . P.1 (Date of access: 01.02.2019).”.

This “rise” ultimately resulted in higher polarization of the American societyGeher G. The Polarization of America [Electronic resource] // Psychology Today, 2018. URL: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/darwins-subterranean-world/201808/the-polarization-america (Date of access: 01.02.2019). and “Trumpism” named after the current president of the United States Donald Trump who does not “simply have charisma, simple solutions and money, he has condoned the use of violence in politics, operates a movement outside of political institutions, and he detests and evades independent media Ibid. P.4.”. “Media are central to political participation and mobilization, as they allow public to express opinions, contact leaders and engage in politics Cook T.E., Owen D., Paletz D.L. 21st Century American Government and Politics [Electronic resource] // 2012 Book Archive, 2012. URL: https://2012books.lardbucket.org/pdfs/21st-century-american-government-and-politics.pdf. P.353. (Date of access: 01.02.2019).”. Consequently, media now play the key role in contemporary American politics. Different types of media have been objects of examination for numerous research papers written over the last twenty years. Media space has become very polarized over the last two decades, and many political actors started to take advantage of it. Along with that, nation-wide digitalization brought up a new player - new media that includes Internet newspapers, radio, blogs and vlogs. These new players now possess a great “threat” to traditional media that include newspapers, radio and television broadcasting Time spent per day with digital versus traditional media in the United States from 2011 to 2017 (in Minutes) [Electronic resource] // Statista, 2019. URL: https://www.statista.com/statistics/565628/time-spent-digital-traditional-media-usa/ (Date of access: 01.02.2019); The Digital Advertising Stats You Need for 2018 [Electronic resource] // AppNexus, 2018. URL: https://www.appnexus.com/sites/default/files/whitepapers/guide-2018stats_2.pdf. P.5. (Date of access: 01.02.2019).. public political media

Purpose of the study lies in suggesting an understanding of the roles played by traditional and new media outlets in the contemporary American top-tier (federal level) politics through analyzing biasness, political inclusiveness and tolerance of selected media outlets to opposing points of view. This researchprovides an insight into the role of each type of media in political process during Donald Trump's presidency and builds up a basis for theorization of how American media space will develop in the nearest future.

Traditional media in the United States are becoming more and more polarized due to high levels of political polarization in the American society. Consequently, fractured media outlets tend to lean to a specific political party and ultimately become narrowcasting outlets aimed at homogenous audiences that share common political views, social and economic backgrounds Metzger M.J. Broadcasting versus Narrowcasting: Do Mass Media Exist in the Twenty-First Century? [Electronic resource] // Oxford Handbooks Online, 2014. URL: http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199793471.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199793471-e-62 (Date of access: 01.02.2019).. Plus, digital media are becoming more and more widespread all over the world, especially in Western countries while traditional media are losing their attractiveness for investors and viewers. This is happening, for the main part,due to the fact that traditional media can't adapt to one's interests because of technical limitations, while Internet media that use complicated search and tracking algorithms that allow to collect information potentially interesting for every single individual. As a result, traditional media are gradually yielding to digital media in terms of “time spent” Time spent per day with digital versus traditional media in the United States from 2011 to 2017 (in Minutes) [Electronic resource] // Statista, 2019. URL: https://www.statista.com/statistics/565628/time-spent-digital-traditional-media-usa/ (Date of access: 01.02.2019) and “ad revenue” The Digital Advertising Stats You Need for 2018 [Electronic resource] // AppNexus, 2018. URL: https://www.appnexus.com/sites/default/files/whitepapers/guide-2018stats_2.pdf. P.5. (Date of access: 01.02.2019). indicators. However, there is one thing that unites both digital and traditional media - they both are highly politicized in the United States and are widely used by either of the two major American political parties - democrats or republicans Iyengar S., Hahn K. S. Red media, blue media: Evidence of ideological selectivity in media use //Journal of Communication. 2009. V. 59. №. 1. P. 19-39.. This does not only touch upon traditional media that have, for instance, Fox News on the right and MSNBC/CNBC on the left, but also a large number of right-wing and left-wing media on the Internet: countless blogs, vlogs For instance: Right Side Broadcasting Network [Electronic resource] // Youtube, 2019. URL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHqC-yWZ1kri4YzwRSt6RGQ (Date of access: 01.02.2019); The Jimmy Dore Show [Electronic resource] // Youtube, 2019. URL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3M7l8ved_rYQ45AVzS0RGA (Date of access: 01.02.2019). and standalone news websites are utilized by either side of political spectrum E.g.: Breitbart News Network [Electronic resource] // Breitbart.com, 2019. URL: https://www.breitbart.com/ (Date of access: 01.02.2019); HuffPost - Breaking News [Electronic resource] // HuffingtonPost, 2019. URL: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ (Date of access: 01.02.2019). . As a result, some ofthese outlets become stages for political confrontation - programs that are attended by either side (or both sides) of the debate, like (presidential) debates or various political talk shows, as well as news coverage from biased media that also provides opinions shared by their opposition.

Digital media, that are now becoming more and more popular Digital Marketing Trends: How We Spend Time With Media 2018 [Electronic resource] // Stella Rising, 2018. URL: https://www.stellarising.com/blog/digital-marketing-trends-how-we-spend-time-with-media-2018- (Date of access: 15.05.2019)., must be more attractive for opposing parties to attend than traditional media as they theoretically allow for better audience involvement (open comments, live streaming services, etc.) and easy access from modern electronic devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops. Moreover, some researchers,like Coleman for instance, have stated that digital media are more interactive by arguing that “the inherent feedback path of digital media subverts this transmission ethos by allowing message receivers to act upon media content Coleman S. Political Communication - Old and New Media Relationships [Electronic resource] // Researchgate, 2015. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stephen_Coleman6/publication/249666712_Political_Communication_-Old_and_New_Media_Relationships/links/556ed50408aeccd7773f80cc/Political-Communication-Old-and-New-Media-Relationships.pdf. P.171 (Date of access: 15.05.2019).” and concluding that Internet is rapidly undermining traditional mass media positions in the sphere of politics by providing a higher level of involvement Ibid. P. 167..However,ten years have passed since the article was written and there seems to be a contradiction between the forecast and realitythat leads to a research problem: for some reason, new media does not provide the same level of political involvement as was promised in 2009 which is indicated by the fact that politicians still actively use traditional media as their main platform for sharing and promoting their views, as well as the fact that Americans still use old media (especially television) as their main source of news Shearer E. Social media outpaces print newspapers in the U.S. as a news source [Electronic resource] // Pew Research Center, 2018. URL: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/12/10/social-media-outpaces-print-newspapers-in-the-u-s-as-a-news-source/ (Date of access: 15.05.2019)..This study attempts to resolve this contradiction by analyzing old and new media roles in contemporary American politics during Trump's presidency that has “set a new record for polarization Jones M.J. Trump Job Approval Sets New Record for Polarization [Electronic resource] // Gallup, 2019. URL: https://news.gallup.com/poll/245996/trump-job-approval-sets-new-record-polarization.aspx (Date of access: 15.05.2019).”.

Studies of the specified problematics emerge full blown in the abovementioned conditions of polarization in the American society. Literatureon polarization of American politics and society, as well as American mass media, includes research from authors like Metzger, Mendelsohn, Turow, Stroud, Kotler and other. Many media outlets in the United States support one of the two major American parties and as a result, US media is now divided into broadcasting media that do not take viewers' backgrounds and opinions into consideration, and narrowcasting media that is aimed at specific audiences around the country. Both -castings are originally marketing terms that can be used in relation to public positioning of specific goods and services Ferranti M. Customer Value: Narrowcasting vs. Broadcasting [Electronic resource] // TargetMarketing, 2016.

URL: http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/post/customer-value-narrowcasting-vs-broadcasting/all/ (Date of access: 02.02.2019)., but it had then migrated to the politics field, and many researchers have been working on the topic since then (M.J. Metzger Metzger M. J. Broadcasting versus Narrowcasting: Do Mass Media Exist in the Twenty-First Century [Electronic

resource] // Oxford Handbooks Online, 2014. URL: http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199793471.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199793471-e-62 (Date of access: 02.02.2019).). The main difference between broad- and narrowcasting is that the former takes the so-called shotgun approach, which refers to the fact that it doesn't go far in influencing people's minds, but reaches as much “targets” as possible, whereas the latter, narrowcasting, in its turn takes the rifle approach as it targets a quantitatively limited audience, but goes deeper in affecting their minds.

There is also some research on American news outlets that use narrowcasting: for instance, the abovementioned Fox News is labeled as partisan media that favors Republican party Iyengar S., Hahn K. S. Red media, blue media: Evidence of ideological selectivity in media use // Journal of

Communication. 2009. V. 59. №. 1. P. 19-39, while MSNBC and CNN, according to some research, are believed to be narrowcasting outlets that support Democrats Kurtz H. MSNBC, Leaning Left And Getting Flak From Both Sides [Electronic resource] // Washington Post,

2008. URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/27/AR2008052703047_pf.html (Date of access: 02.02.2019); Bercovici J. Pew Study Finds MSNBC the Most Opinionated Cable News Channel By Far [Electronic resource] // Forbes, 2013. URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/03/18/pew-study-finds-msnbc-the-most-opinionated-cable-news-channel-by-far/#3b27959e5f8c (Date of access: 02.02.2019)..

XXI century politics in the United States and role of media in political relations is described by Paletz et.al (2012) Cook T.E., Owen D., Paletz D.L. 21st Century American Government and Politics [Electronic resource] // 2012 Book Archive, 2012. URL: https://2012books.lardbucket.org/pdfs/21st-century-american-government-and-politics.pdf. P.353. (Date of access: 02.02.2019).. The book describes how politics in general and government in particular “shape the media and their contentsIbid. P. 16.”, as well as broadly covers the nature of magazines, television, radio, music, films and Internet. Moreover, leading conservative and liberal news channels are described within one of the book's chapters as wellIbid. P. 36-43..

More recent research has shown that there is a rise in right-wing movements in the Western countries including the United States, that ultimately resulted in Trump's presidencyGreven T. The Rise of Right-wing Populism in Europe and the United States [Electronic resource] // Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2016. URL: http://www.fesdc.org/fileadmin/user_upload/publications/RightwingPopulism.pdf . P.1 (Date of access: 02.02.2019); Geher G. The Polarization of America [Electronic resource] // Psychology Today, 2018. URL: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/darwins-subterranean-world/201808/the-polarization-america (Date of access: 02.02.2019). , which was also a result of polarization: Greven emphasizes that “both the Republican and - to lesser extent - the Democratic party are responsible for the transformation of American politics into a polarized battlefieldIbid. P. 4” Piers Robinson deepened Paletz' work and developed the policy-interaction model as well as CNN Effect, an effect that describes mass media influence on policymakers' perception of events around the globe. Robinson P. Theorizing the Influence of Media on World Politics: Models of Media Influence on Foreign

Policy [Electronic resource] // ResearchGate, 2001. URL:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Piers_Robinson/publication/249720557_Theorizing_the_Influence_of_Media_on_World_Politics_Models_of_Media_Influence_on_Foreign_Policy/links/54a14ffa0cf256bf8baf63d6.pdf (Date of access: 02.02.2019).. This phenomenon was later elaborated by Cohen and Bernard Cohen, Bernard (1994) `The View from the Academy', pp. 8-11 in W.L. Bennett and D.L. Paletz (eds) Taken by Storm: The Media, Public Opinion and US Foreign Policy in the Gulf War. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. P.9..

Some researchers have also paid attention to a phenomenon that goes even deeper than narrowcasting, the so-called hyper-personalization (M. Mendelsohn Mendelsohn M., Nadeau R. The magnification and minimization of social cleavages by the broadcast and

narrowcast news media // International Journal of Public Opinion Research. 1996. V. 8. №. 4. P. 374-389, J. TurowTurow J. Breaking up America: Advertisers and the new media world. University of Chicago Press, 2007. and N.J. Stroud Stroud N. J. Polarization and partisan selective exposure // Journal of Communication. 2010. V. 60. №. 3. P. 556-576) that allows media to create “daily MEs” for everyone (C.R. Sunstein Sunstein C. R. Republic.com 2.0. Princeton University Press. Princeton, 2007.) on the basis of content consumed by the audience and other small pieces of their personal information. There is also some research on how much narrowcasting costs Harris S. Evasive action: How politicians respond to questions in political interviews // Broadcast talk. 1991. Т. 7699. P. 78; Ibid. P. 91, and how politicians use it to create sets of political behavior models Smith G. That $5,000 TV Ad May Run $100,000 Now for Political Conventions [Electronic resource] // Bloomberg Technology, 2016. URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-21/trump-versus-clinton-has-cable-news-prepping-for-ratings-jackpot (Date of access: 02.02.2019); Mullainathan S., Shleifer A. The market for news // American Economic Review. 2005. V. 95. №. 4. P. 1031-1053.. The concept of daily me is also bounded to the Internet, as its technologies allow companies (including media outlets) to adapt to the interests of each person who uses Web services. Corporate surveillance helps companies to make content that a potential user would probably like based on a set of tools provided by, for example, GoogleMitchollow Is Google always listening: Live Test [Electronic resource] // YouTube, 2019. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBnDWSvaQ1I (Date of access: 02.02.2019). .

Narrowcasting, along with broadcastingis related to political marketing, which is a widespread phenomenon that has been discussed by a number of political scientists and specialists in marketing like P. Kotler Kotler P. Political Marketing-Generating Effective Candidates, Campaigns, and Causes // Handbook of political marketing. Sage Publications, 1999, J. Lees-Marshment Lees-Marshment J. Political Marketing and British Political Parties: Second Edititon. Manchester University Press, 2008., A. Lock Lock A., Harris P. Political marketing-vive la difference! // European Journal of marketing. 1996. Vol. 30. №. 10/11. P. 14-24. and P.J. MaarekMaarek P. J. Political marketing // The international encyclopedia of communication. 2008.

Regarding the said above, researchers have tackled various issues that pose a certain interest for academic community, including the role of media in general. However, nothing exact was said about the role of digital and traditional media as separate entities. This gap in knowledge is meant to be fulfilled by this research, which pinpointsthe reasons for old media holding their positions in politics during the most controversial presidency America has ever seenFrankovic K. Party polarization is extreme when it comes to Trump [Electronic resource] // YouGov, 2018. URL: https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2018/11/30/party-polarization-extreme-when-it-comes-trump (Date of access: 15.05.2019); Tyson A. America's polarized views of Trump follow years of growing political partisanship [Electronic resource] // Pew Research Center, 2019. URL: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/11/14/americas-polarized-views-of-trump-follow-years-of-growing-political-partisanship/ (Date of access: 15.05.2019)..

Thus, the research question will touch upon the reasons for traditional media's leading role in providing a stage for political debate as a part of political process in the United States of America.

This question touches upon how digital media, despite having obvious advantages (like higher levels of involvement Time Flies: U.S. Adults Now Spend Nearly Half a Day Interacting With Media [Electronic resource] // Nielsen, 2019. URL: https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2018/time-flies-us-adults-now-spend-nearly-half-a-day-interacting-with-media.print.html (Date of access: 15.05.2019). , higher ad revenues and accessibility The Digital Advertising Stats You Need for 2018 [Electronic resource] // AppNexus, 2018. URL: https://www.appnexus.com/sites/default/files/whitepapers/guide-2018stats_2.pdf (Date of access: 15.05.2019).) over the traditional media, have become a competitor for traditional media, but not a leader in this field.

In short terms, hypothesis suggests that traditional media play the role of mediators for political clashes while new media can be regarded strictly as sides of these clashes.

Itsuggests thatold mass media still play crucial role in politics because:

a) they provide better coverage per capita that results from better involvement of audiences with different political affiliations. For example, CNN, despite being a narrowcasting outlet, is still watched by 38% of republicans Share of consumers who watch CNN in the United States as of April 2017, by political affiliation [Electronic resource] // Statista, 2019. URL: https://www.statista.com/statistics/742714/cnn-viewers-politics/ (Date of access: 02.02.2019)., while a narrowcasting outlet of Vice is not favored by republicans that are mocked by its writers Why the Right Is Dominating YouTube [Electronic resource] // VICE, 2017. URL: https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/3dy7vb/why-the-right-is-dominating-youtube (Date of access: 02.02.2019).. Conversely, Fox News that is, again, a narrowcasting outlet, is still watched by democrats Matthews D. A stunning new study shows that Fox News is more powerful than we ever imagined [Electronic resource] // Vox, 2017. URL: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/9/8/16263710/fox-news-presidential-vote-study (Date of access: 02.02.2019)., while InfoWars, an Internet portal, is strictly conservative and, unlike the abovementioned Fox, does not welcome liberals at all Socolow M.J. Audiences love the anger: Alex Jones, or someone like him, will be back [Electronic resource] // The Conversation, 2018. URL: http://theconversation.com/audiences-love-the-anger-alex-jones-or-someone-like-him-will-be-back-101168 (Date of access: 02.02.2019)..In short terms, old media are more inclusive in terms of involvement of people with various political views than web media projects;

b) Old media are still holding the position of leading stages for political confrontation as they, despite being committed, provide good involvement for both debating sides: for instance, Barack Obama, despite moving “beyond protecting government secrets to threatening fundamental freedoms of the press to gather news Another Chilling Leak Investigation [Electronic resource] // The New York Times, 2013. URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/opinion/another-chilling-leak-investigation.html (Date of access: 15.05.2019).” in relation to Fox News in 2013, gave an exclusive interview to this media outlet in 2016 and debated with the host on equal terms Obama sits down for exclusive interview on 'Fox News Sunday' [Electronic resource] // Fox News, 2016. URL: https://video.foxnews.com/v/4837534637001/#sp=show-clips (Date of access: 15.05.2019).. Open discussions between opposing sides are crucial for healthy and fair political debate, and traditional media outlets cope with the task well, and are generally less biased than their digital counterparts Media Bias Ratings [Electronic resource] // AllSides, 2019. URL: https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-ratings (Date of access: 15.05.2019).. New media presumably can't achieve the same level of involvement, because they might be not stages, but sides for political confrontation that publish one-sided news entries where they become obsessed with certain political figures, intentionally make up “anti-XYZ tone in their articles Levingston M. Trump Foundation is shutting down after the New York AG called it “little more than a checkbook” for Trump [Electronic resource] // Vice News, 2018. URL: https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/qvqapp/trump-foundation-is-shutting-down-after-the-new-york-ag-called-it-little-more-than-a-checkbook-for-trump (Date of access: 15.05.2019).” and ignore other sides of the debate.

The main aim of the research is to suggest an understanding ofthe reasons for traditional media still occupying leading positions in the “market” for debates as a part of contemporary American political process. In order to achieve this goal, a number of objectives must be fulfilled:

1. Define the key terms that will be used throughout the work (namely, traditional and old media, stages for political confrontation, policy-interaction model, broadcasting, narrowcasting and hyperpersonalization)

2. Develop criteria for media in scope, and a specific case in relation to which selected outlets will be analyzed

3. Choose media outlets and the case to analyze in accordance with pre-definedcriteria

4. Retrieve bias level of the selected media outlets using data from open sources and analyze methodologiesthat are suggested by them

5. Gather and analyze publications in selected media outlets using Wordstat (embedded into QDA Miner) toolkit with a sentiment dictionaryWordstat Sentiment Dictionary [ZIP archive] // Provalis Research Inc. 2018. URL: https://provalisresearch.com/Download/WSD.zip (Date of access: 15.05.2019). - Quantitative content analysis. +Verify results using a different dictionary Opinion Lexicon Dictionary [Rar archive] // The University of Illinois at Chicago, 2004. URL: http://www.cs.uic.edu/~liub/FBS/opinion-lexicon-English.rar (Date of access: 15.05.2019). (data triangulation)

6. Carry out Qualitative CA (Method triangulation) +Verify results using a different set of articles (data triangulation)

Chronological framework for this paper is 2013 - 2019. The 113^th Congress session that took place in 2013 showed that American politics had become extremely polarized over the previous years, and now, with the rise of political polarization, media and societal polarization started to grow in a tremendous pace United States of Amoeba [Electronic resource] // The Economist, 2013. URL:

https://www.economist.com/united-states/2013/12/05/united-states-of-amoeba (Date of access: 02.02.2019)..

Here in this paper research papers will be used as sources of evidence, while empirical data sources will secondary data (Publications on various online mediums like YouTube For instance: Right Side Broadcasting Network [Electronic resource] // Youtube, 2019. URL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHqC-yWZ1kri4YzwRSt6RGQ (Date of access: 01.02.2019); Democracy Now! [Electronic resource] // Youtube, 2019. URL: https://www.youtube.com/user/democracynow (Date of access: 01.02.2019). , dedicated news websites E.g.: Alex Jones' Infowars [Electronic resource] // InfoWars, 2019. URL: https://www.infowars.com/ (Date of access: 01.02.2019); The Young Turks [Electronic resource] // TYT.com, 2019. URL: https://tyt.com/ (Date of access: 01.02.2019). and TV broadcasting content found in archives For instance: Full Episodes: Fox Files [Electronic resource] // Fox News, 2019. URL: https://video.foxnews.com/playlist/on-air-full-episodes-fox-files/ (Date of access: 15.05.2019); Back to CNN 10 [Electronic resource] // CNN 10, 2019. URL: https://edition.cnn.com/specials/cnn-10---archive (Date of access: 15.05.2019); Archive [Electronic resource] // CBS News, 2019. URL: https://www.cbsnews.com/latest/archive/ (Date of access: 15.05.2019).) to prove certain points of this work, as well as statistical data from Pew Research Center Pew Research Center homepage [Electronic resource] // Pew Research Center, 2019. URL: http://www.pewresearch.org/ (Date of access: 15.05.2019)., Statista Statista homepage [Electronic resource] // Statista, 2019. URL: https://www.statista.com/ (Date of access: 15.05.2019)., Gallup Gallup Analytics homepage [Electronic resource] // Gallup, 2019. URL: https://www.gallup.com/home.aspx (Date of access: 15.05.2019). that will be used to strengthen some of the arguments made in this paper.

Methods for this research paper include a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods that ensures internal and external validity of the research. The following methods mentioned in the objectives of the research includesqualitative content analysis and quantitative content analysis Qualitative Data Analysis Software [Electronic resource]// https://provalisresearch.com/products/qualitative-data-analysis-software/ (Date of access: 15.05.2019).. Both methods are also verified using different sets of empirical data (data triangulation). This structure allows to make a more reliable and solid work that proves the hypothesis right or wrong from different methodological perspectives.

Statements to be defendedinclude:

1.On the one hand, new media section has shown that Internet mediums' political ideology/bias clearly correlates with the rate of positive/negative sentiments, while old media on the other hand, have not shown a clear link between their political ideology and the use of sentiments. This was proven by quantitative content analysis carried out in this paper.

2. Old media manage to keep the level of tolerance towards opposing powers high by giving them a chance to voice their opinion on outlets that do not support their views. At the same time, the most popular U.S. digital media outlets go to extremes and mute or undermine opinions expressed on opposing channels. Qualitative content analysis clearly indicates such a pattern.

3. Main reason behind traditional media crucial role in hosting political debates as a part of political process in the U.S. during Trump's presidency lies in the fact that they a) provide better coverage per capita that results from better involvement from actors sharing opposite political views and b) despite being committed to certain political figures or parties, traditional outlets still exercise a higher level of political inclusiveness and tolerance towards their opposition, while new ones are being one-sided in their reports while also preventing their respective opposition from voicingcounter-opinions.

This research has a following structure: introduction, three chapters and conclusion. In chapter one vital terms, as well as criteria for outlet and case selection, will be defined. The second chapter is meant to examine various resources that evaluate bias levels in media as well as to study their methodologies in order to understand how they rate each media outlet. The final chapterwill reflect the process and results of Computerized Quantitative Content Analysis (CQCA) as well as findings of Qualitative Content Analysis. In addition, these methods will be verified using data triangulation.Conclusion depicts key results of the research that either confirm or reject the hypothesis stated in introduction.

This research paper, however, has some limitations. Firstly, a total number of 200 articles were examined in this paper, which, despite dual verification, needs some more cases to be added. Further work would need more than one news hook (government shutdown) to analyze, as this will provide higher robustness. Finally, other methods could be used on top of those utilized in this paper in order to provide better triangulation.

Chapter 1. Theoretical and methodological basis

1.1 Public positioning and policy-media interaction model

Positioning is originally a marketing term that “means the product's form, package size and price as compared to competition Trout J.R. The Positioning Era Cometh // Advertising Age. 1972. P. 35-38.”. In other words, positioning is a set of characteristics that makes a product unique in relation to its possible competitors. Public positioning, or political positioning, in its turn “literally means the politician's specific traits, views and goals as compared to competition Belko I.V. Impact of US Presidents' Public Positioning Strategies on the Status of Their Country on the Contemporary International Stage. Higher School of Economics, 2018. P. 12.”. Public positioning in different countries has its own limitations and opportunities with media playing an essential role in politics in some of those countries. This fact is best reflected in Piers Robinson's research in which the author highlights three levels of elite consensus and links them to media-state relationship and the role of media Robinson P. Theorizing the Influence of Media on World Politics: Models of Media Influence on Foreign Policy [Electronic resource] // ResearchGate, 2001. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Piers_Robinson/publication/249720557_Theorizing_the_Influence_of_Media_on_World_Politics_Models_of_Media_Influence_on_Foreign_Policy/links/54a14ffa0cf256bf8baf63d6.pdf P. 536. (Date of access: 15.05.2019).. The paper suggests three levels of elite consensus: “elite consensus, elite dissensus and elite dissensus plus policy uncertainty within government and critically framed media coverage Ibid. P. 536.”. Those levels are strongly linked to media-state relationship and role of media which is reflected in the following table Ibid. P. 536.: