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FAA halts all US flights in nationwide ground stop

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Coverage spectrum

Covered by 7 outlets, mostly left-leaning (72%).

11 articles in total, 1 of them opinion. The spectrum counts each outlet once and leaves opinion out. How we measure bias

Man with rolling luggage walks past large airport departures board showing flight listings.
Image via Business InsiderHow images are chosenReport this image

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon, halting departing flights across the United States. The FAA cited communications problems, according to Scripps News. Airlines including American, Delta, United, Frontier and JetBlue warned that disruptions could continue after the stop and advised passengers to check flight status. Passengers were held on planes or stranded in terminals as delays mounted. A source told NBC News that Reagan National Airport was at capacity and Chicago O’Hare was nearing it, with some planes possibly diverted. The reports reviewed did not say what caused the outage or when flights would resume.

Headline and summary written by Mantle’s AI from the coverage below, under published rules. Editors read every story. How this works

What happened

Key points

Each point shows who reports it, from Far Left to Far Right.

  1. The FAA ordered a nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon, halting departing flights across the United States.

    Reported byLeft6Center1Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The Atlantic, CBS News, The New York Times, Business Insider, NBC News, NPR
    Center
    Scripps News
    Right
    New York Post

  2. The FAA cited communications problems as the reason for the stop.

    One outletScripps News· Center

  3. Airlines warned that disruptions could continue beyond the ground stop and advised passengers to check flight status.

    One outletScripps News· Center

  4. Passengers were held on planes or stranded in airport terminals as delays mounted.

    Reported byLeft4Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    CBS News, The New York Times, Business Insider, NPR
    Right
    New York Post

  5. A source told NBC News that Reagan National Airport was at capacity and Chicago O’Hare was nearing it, with some planes possibly diverted.

    One outletNBC News· Left

How each side tells it

Compare views

All sides report that the FAA ordered a nationwide ground stop on Friday, leaving passengers stranded in airports and on planes. Left headlines stress stranded travelers and crowded airports, the center explains delays, rebooking and refunds, and the right headline centers on a celebrity passenger.

  • the left

    5 outlets · 1 opinion

    Left headlines center stranded travelers and crowded airports, with one opinion piece calling air travel a humiliation, and the cause of the stop is barely mentioned in headlines.

    Airports Fill Up With Stuck Families and Stranded Travelers
    The New York TimesLeftAll left-leaning headlines

  • the center

    1 outlet

    The center headline is a service explainer on delays, rebooking and refunds, framing the stop mainly as a question of what travelers should do next.

    FAA nationwide ground stop: What to know about delays, rebooking and refunds
    Scripps NewsCenterAll center headlines

  • the right

    1 outlet

    The right headline, from the New York Post, frames the stop through a celebrity passenger stranded on a private jet rather than through the cause or the wider disruption.

    ‘Baywatch’ star Brooks Nader stuck on private jet amid FAA’s nationwide ground stop
    New York PostRightAll right-leaning headlines

The words they chose

Language to notice

Words that carry a judgement beyond the facts. Tap a highlighted word anywhere on the page to see why.

  • Left2

    humiliationTruly Terrible

  • Center0

    No loaded words in its own voice.

  • Right0

    No loaded words in its own voice.

In the outlets’ own words

  • Sensational language

    humiliationMore neutral: latest air-travel disruption

    The word presents the ground stop as a degrading experience, which is an opinion about the event.

    The nationwide ground stop is the latest air-travel humiliation.

    Used byThe Atlantic (Left)

  • Sensational language

    Truly TerribleMore neutral: Flying Is Disrupted Again

    The headline states a judgement about air travel as fact rather than describing the event.

    Flying Is Truly Terrible Now

    Used byThe Atlantic (Left)

See the full language guide

See for yourself

Side by side

What each side leads with and what it leaves out. Open a side to read its headlines.

From the left

5 outlets · 1 opinion

Leads with

  • stranded passengers and families
  • crowded airports and tarmacs
  • refunds and passenger rights

Leaves out

  • the communications problem the FAA cited

Reported by other sides, not found in this side’s coverage.

See the 6 headlines from the leftHide the headlines

From the center

1 outlet

Leads with

  • rebooking and refunds
  • airline warnings about continuing delays
  • what travelers should know
See the headline from the centerHide the headlines
  • Scripps NewsCenter

    FAA nationwide ground stop: What to know about delays, rebooking and refunds

    U.S. airlines are warning that flight disruptions could continue well beyond the nationwide ground stop ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday. …

    Read at Scripps News (opens in a new tab)

From the right

1 outlet

Leads with

  • a celebrity passenger stranded
  • the stop as a backdrop to one story
See the headline from the rightHide the headlines

The stories you read build My Mix, a private picture of which sides cover the stories you choose, kept on this device. What is My Mix?

The left is Far Left and Left together. The right is Right and Far Right together. Every outlet keeps its own five-point rating.

Who reported it when

How the coverage built up

  • Left

    First to report

    NPR, Nov 13, 5:36 PM EST

  • Center

    1 hr 41 min later

    Its first report, Nov 13, 7:17 PM EST

  • Right

    55 min later

    Its first report, Nov 13, 6:31 PM EST

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. NPRLeftNov 13, 5:36 PM EST
  2. NBC NewsLeftNov 13, 5:51 PM EST
  3. CBS NewsLeftNov 13, 6:01 PM EST
  4. Business InsiderLeftNov 13, 6:08 PM EST
  5. The New York TimesLeftNov 13, 6:14 PM EST
  6. New York PostRightNov 13, 6:31 PM EST
  7. Scripps NewsCenterNov 13, 7:17 PM EST

Times are the ones the outlets published in their own feeds, in Eastern time. Opinion is left out.

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