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Finland and Norway leaders speak by phone with Putin on Ukraine war

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Coverage spectrum

Covered by 4 outlets, mostly left-leaning (75%).

4 articles in total. The spectrum counts each outlet once and leaves opinion out. How we measure bias

Guardian, CBS News, Bloomberg and Hot Air report that Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week. The Guardian says the call lasted 90 minutes and drew a rebuke from Denmark and Sweden, and Hot Air reports criticism from fellow Nordic leaders. Bloomberg reports that Putin welcomed the outreach and said Moscow supports restoring ties with Europe after years of confrontation over the war in Ukraine. CBS News reports comments from Finnish foreign minister Elina Valtonen on the call.

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

What happened

Key points

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

  1. Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre held a phone call with Vladimir Putin this week.

    Reported byLeft3Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The Guardian, CBS News, Bloomberg
    Far Right
    Hot Air

  2. The call lasted about 90 minutes.

    One outletThe Guardian· Left

  3. Danish and Swedish leaders criticized the call.

    Reported byLeft1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The Guardian
    Far Right
    Hot Air

  4. Putin welcomed the outreach and said Moscow supports efforts to restore ties with Europe after years of confrontation over the war in Ukraine.

    One outletBloomberg· Left

  5. Finnish foreign minister Elina Valtonen gave her views on the call in an interview.

    One outletCBS News· Left

What is contested

Where accounts differ

Points the coverage does not agree on, and who says what.

  • Whether the call is a pragmatic step toward European contact with Moscow or a pointless one

    The Guardian asks whether the call is pragmatic or pointless and describes messy results; Putin welcomes it as restoring ties; Hot Air reports European fury at the talks.

How each side tells it

Compare views

All four outlets report that Finnish and Norwegian leaders phoned Putin this week. Left-side coverage stresses the Nordic rift and Putin's welcome of the outreach, while the right-side headline stresses European fury at direct talks with Moscow.

  • the left

    3 outlets

    Left-side headlines frame the call as a debate over European diplomacy with Russia, one raising the Nordic rift and another, Bloomberg, leading with Putin's welcome of the outreach.

    Putin Welcomes Stubb, Støre Call as Restoring European Contacts
    BloombergLeftAll left-leaning headlines

  • the center

    No coverage yet

    No center outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.

  • the right

    1 outlet

    Hot Air's headline frames the call as European fury at direct Ukraine talks with Putin, stressing criticism from fellow Nordic leaders.

    European Sensational language“Fury”The word dramatizes the reaction beyond the criticism the article itself reports.More neutral: criticismDisagree with this highlight? After Finland and Norway's Leaders Hold Direct Ukraine Talks w/ Putin
    Hot AirFar RightAll 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.

  • Left1

    messy results

  • Center

    Has not covered this story.

  • Right1

    Fury

In the outlets’ own words

  • Loaded modifier

    messy resultsMore neutral: mixed results

    The description judges the outcome in the outlet’s own voice rather than describing what happened.

    …directly with Moscow, some leaders are establishing their own channels – with messy results The Nordic countries rarely fall out in public over foreign policy, least of all…

    Used byThe Guardian (Left)

  • Sensational language

    FuryMore neutral: criticism

    The word dramatizes the reaction beyond the criticism the article itself reports.

    European Fury After Finland and Norway's Leaders Hold Direct Ukraine Talks w/ Putin

    Used byHot Air (Far Right)

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

3 outlets

Leads with

  • Putin's welcome of the outreach
  • Nordic rift over the call
  • restoring European contacts with Moscow
See the 3 headlines from the leftHide the headlines
  • BloombergLeft

    Putin Welcomes Stubb, Støre Call as Restoring European Contacts

    Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the outreach from Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in a phone call this week, saying Moscow supports efforts to restore ties with Europe after years of confrontation over the war in Ukraine.

    Read at Bloomberg (opens in a new tab)
  • CBS NewsLeft

    Finnish diplomat on Putin's rare phone call with leaders of Finland, Norway over Ukraine war

    The leaders of Finland and Norway discussed the war in Ukraine in a rare phone call with Russia's Vladimir Putin. Finnish foreign minister Elina Valtonen shares her thoughts.

    Read at CBS News (opens in a new tab)
  • The GuardianLeft

    Pragmatic or pointless? Europe’s rift over whether to pick up the phone to Putin

    With no single European representative negotiating directly with Moscow, some leaders are establishing their own channels – with Loaded modifier“messy results”The description judges the outcome in the outlet’s own voice rather than describing what happened.More neutral: mixed resultsDisagree with this highlight? The Nordic countries rarely fall out in public over foreign policy, least of all over Russia. …

    Read at The Guardian (opens in a new tab)

From the center

0 outlets

No center outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.

From the right

1 outlet

Leads with

  • European fury
  • direct Ukraine talks
  • frank and substantive call
See the headline from the rightHide the headlines
  • Hot AirFar Right

    European Sensational language“Fury”The word dramatizes the reaction beyond the criticism the article itself reports.More neutral: criticismDisagree with this highlight? After Finland and Norway's Leaders Hold Direct Ukraine Talks w/ Putin

    The leaders of Norway and Finland held a 'frank and substantive' phone conversation with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, sparking criticism from fellow Nordic leaders.

    Read at Hot Air (opens in a new tab)

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

    The Guardian, Oct 29, 8:55 AM EDT

  • Center

    No report yet

    From the outlets Mantle follows

  • Right

    5 min later

    Its first report, Oct 29, 9:00 AM EDT

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. The GuardianLeftOct 29, 8:55 AM EDT
  2. Hot AirFar RightOct 29, 9:00 AM EDT
  3. CBS NewsLeftOct 29, 1:53 PM EDT
  4. BloombergLeftOct 29, 2:32 PM EDT

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

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