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Former Northern Ireland DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson sentenced to 15 years in prison

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Coverage spectrum

Covered by 6 outlets. No right-leaning outlet that Mantle follows has covered it yet.

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

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Former Democratic Unionist Party leader Jeffrey Donaldson has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexual offences against two women who were children when he abused them. According to the Guardian, he was found guilty in June of 18 counts of sexual abuse, including one count of rape, committed between 1985 and 2008. The judge described a “catastrophic descent into disgrace”, according to the Financial Times and the Guardian. Al Jazeera reports that the judge said Donaldson never apologised to the victims and that Donaldson is seeking to appeal his convictions.

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. Jeffrey Donaldson, a former DUP leader, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

    Across the spectrumReported byLeft3Center3See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The Guardian, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera English
    Center
    Sky News, Financial Times, BBC News

  2. Donaldson was convicted of 18 sexual offence counts against two women who were children, including one count of rape.

    Reported byLeft2Center1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The Guardian, Bloomberg
    Center
    BBC News

  3. The judge described Donaldson’s conduct as a “catastrophic descent into disgrace”.

    Reported byLeft1Center1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The Guardian
    Center
    Financial Times

  4. The judge said Donaldson never apologised to his victims, and Donaldson is seeking to appeal his convictions.

    One outletAl Jazeera English· Left

How each side tells it

Compare views

Every side reports that Jeffrey Donaldson, a former DUP leader, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for child sex offences. The main difference is emphasis: left-side headlines more often foreground the rape conviction and the judge’s remarks, while center headlines lead with the jail term and the offences.

  • the left

    3 outlets

    Left-side headlines name the rape and child abuse convictions and the fall of a former DUP leader, with Bloomberg putting rape directly into its headline.

    Former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson sentenced to 15 years for child sexual offences
    The GuardianLeftAll left-leaning headlines

  • the center

    3 outlets

    Center headlines lead with the 15-year jail term and the child sex offences, and the BBC’s pre-sentencing headline frames the story around the sentence still to come.

    Former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson jailed for 15 years for child sex offences
    Sky NewsCenterAll center headlines

  • the right

    No coverage yet

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

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.

Mantle found no loaded language in this coverage. Every headline and opening was checked against Mantle’s published word list, and Mantle’s AI read all 8 articles in context. Straight reporting often has none.

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

  • rape and abuse of children
  • the judge’s remarks on his downfall
  • Donaldson’s fall from political power
See the 3 headlines from the leftHide the headlines

From the center

3 outlets

Leads with

  • the 15-year jail term
  • child sex offences
  • the challenge for prison staff
See the 3 headlines from the centerHide the headlines

From the right

0 outlets

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

Articles you open from here build My Mix, a private picture of how your reading spreads across the spectrum, 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

    1 day later

    Its first report, Oct 15, 6:28 AM EDT

  • Center

    First to report

    Sky News, Oct 14, 5:33 AM EDT

  • Right

    No report yet

    From the outlets Mantle follows

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. Sky NewsCenterOct 14, 5:33 AM EDT
  2. BBC NewsCenterOct 15, 1:29 AM EDT
  3. The GuardianLeftOct 15, 6:28 AM EDT
  4. BloombergLeftOct 15, 6:43 AM EDT
  5. Financial TimesCenterOct 15, 7:07 AM EDT
  6. Al Jazeera EnglishLeftOct 15, 4:12 PM EDT

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

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