Executive Action or Overreach? Media Framing of Trump’s Actions Toward Universities and Law Firms

This study examines how news outlets frame the Trump administration’s coercive executive actions toward universities and major law firms – a topic that has not been analyzed systematically. We draw on a dataset of 748 stories from six news outlets, three of which are conservative and three mainstream, in order to test hypotheses about both between-ideology and within-ideology differences in news framing. Our preliminary statistical analysis shows differences between conservative and mainstream frames, as well as notable variation within the two groups of news businesses. These findings suggest that partisan media ecosystems are less uniform than commonly assumed, while overall support for the Trump administration aligns with popular expectations. This study contributes new evidence about how news media may be shaping public interpretations of institutional autonomy, executive authority, and the limits of presidential power.