Elon Musk has been the subject of much partisan media coverage since he endorsed President Donald Trump and began heading up DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory group that aims to scale back federal spending and operations. Last week, media bias around Musk was again apparent as he announced his departure from the group after reaching the maximum allowance of 130 days for special government employees.
Some media on the left downplayed the 130-limit as a factor in headlines, instead tying the timing to Musk’s recent critique of Trump’s spending bill, potentially giving the impression Musk and Trump are forcefully at odds. Meanwhile, outlets on the right generally highlighted positive elements of the story, like Musk’s comments expressing gratitude toward Trump and Trump’s praise for Musk, though some also mentioned Musk’s critique of the bill.
Left and center outlets often characterized DOGE as having failed to achieve its goals, while outlets on the right tended to portray Musk’s time in government as having succeeded.
By tying Musk’s departure to his public point of disagreement with the Trump administration, were left outlets showing bias by slant? By leaving it out, were right outlets showing bias by omission? The answer depends on your perspective.
Bias by Placement, Slant in Coverage of Musk’s Departure
Coverage of Musk’s DOGE departure mostly employed bias by placement, a type of media bias in which information is either buried or placed on the page in ways that slant the reader’s perception.
Al Jazeera (Lean Left bias), for instance, employed slant in its headline and subheadline, which read, “Why has Elon Musk quit Donald Trump’s administration? Elon Musk leaves his post as head of the US Department of Government Efficiency amid clashes with the Trump administration over tax cuts.”
BBC (Center) took a similar approach, stating, “[Musk’s] role was temporary and his exit is not unexpected, but it comes a day after Musk criticised the legislative centrepiece of Trump's agenda.”
By failing to more prominently mention the time limit and instead tying Musk’s departure to recent criticism of Trump’s bill, these outlets make it appear the two factors are closely linked and that the two figures are seriously at odds, when they may not be. This slant contributes to a sensationalist bent.
In a The New York Times (Lean Left) piece on Musk’s purported drug use, the outlet stated, “On Wednesday evening, Mr. Musk announced that he was ending his stint with the government, after lamenting how much time he had spent on politics instead of his businesses.” While this statement is true, it obscures some context — the article did not note the 130-day limit, nor did it quote Musk’s comments in full (more on this later).
NBC News (Lean Left) also chose the more sensationalist route; its headline was neutral, but the subheader read, “The billionaire Tesla CEO departed a day after he called a Republican bill to fund Trump's agenda "disappointing." Again, this fact is true, but not exactly the full story, which NBC offers around paragraph three, when the employee time limit is mentioned.
On X, Musk explicitly stated his time was up and thanked President Trump, saying, “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President [Trump] for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending. The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
For its part, Politico (Lean Left) positioned the time limit fact prominently in its article on the move.
Meanwhile, The Daily Wire (Right) took a more positive frame, positioning Trump and Musk as buddies, not at odds, by highlighting Musk’s statement of gratitude toward Trump in its headline: “‘I Would Like To Thank President Trump’: Musk Says Farewell To DOGE.”
Also on the right, Fox News (Right) used word choice bias to put a positive spin on Musk’s actions, running the headline, “Musk officially steps down from DOGE after wrapping work streamlining government.” The wording of the headline implies Musk was successful at “streamlining government,” an idea contested on the left.
Fox’s subheading clearly notes the 130-day limit. In the most notable departure from left-leaning coverage, Fox did not mention Musk’s criticism of Trump’s spending bill at all, instead noting activist protests against Musk and his companies and including comments from Trump praising Musk.
Unlike The New York Times, which paraphrased Musk’s comments on his time in government as opposed to time spent on his businesses, Fox reported Musk’s quotes in full. The article reports on an April 22 Tesla earnings call during which Musk said, "I think starting probably in next month, May, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly. I’ll have to continue doing it for, I think, the remainder of the president’s term just to make sure the waste and fraud that we stopped does not come roaring back, which it will do if it has the chance. So I think I’ll continue to spend, you know, a day or two per week on government matters for as long as the president would like me to do so and as long as it is useful."
In contrast, outlets in the Center, such as The Hill and Reuters, did not make note of Musk mentioning “waste and fraud we stopped,” instead characterizing as Musk “frustrated” (The Hill), his tenure as “turbulent” (Reuters), and prominently stating he “ultimately failed to deliver the generational savings he had sought” (also Reuters). This is in contrast to The Daily Wire, which noted DOGE “claims it has saved American taxpayers $175 billion.”
Also on the right, Newsmax (Right) employed a neutral headline, though its lede showed word choice bias: “Elon Musk is leaving his government role as a top adviser to President Donald Trump after spearheading efforts to reduce and overhaul the federal bureaucracy.” Outlets on the left would be unlikely to mention government “bureaucracy,” which tends to be a critique of the size and functioning of government on the right. Like left-leaning outlets, Newsmax did highlight Musk’s critique of Trump’s bill in its coverage.
Whether or not Musk was successful in his run with DOGE depends upon subjective interpretation. In the runup to the 2024 presidential election, Yahoo Finance (Lean Left) quoted Musk saying, “Well, I think we can [cut] $2 trillion” from the federal budget; shortly before Trump’s inauguration, he called this number a “best-case outcome,” per NBC.
In February, Fox Business (Lean Right) quoted Musk at a cabinet meeting saying he was “confident at this point” that DOGE could save $1 trillion for the federal government. Again in a March interview on Fox Business, Musk said, “unless we’re stopped, we will get to a trillion dollars in savings.” At a press conference about his departure, Musk told reporters his goal of cutting $1 trillion was not impossible, “but it’s a long road to go, and, you know, it’s really difficult,” per The New York Times.
The somewhat subtle bias throughout coverage of this issue highlights the importance of reading the full story, not just headlines, getting news from outlets across the political spectrum, and deciding for yourself what you think.
Julie Mastrine is the Director of Marketing and Media Bias Ratings at AllSides. She has a Lean Right bias.
This piece was reviewed by Evan Wagner, Product Manager and News Editor (Lean Left bias).
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