Defining Differences: How five major news publications define and operationalize CRT

“Conversations about critical race theory (CRT) have become intense and polarized over the past year. People on the left generally support CRT while people on the right generally oppose it.

The CRT debate has largely been going on without a clear understanding of what people with different ideological positions mean when they use the term CRT, increasing the risk that we talk past, rather than with, each other.

That’s why we collected 562 articles from five news outlets that span the ideological spectrum — to identify if and how the different definitions and narratives surrounding CRT in the news promote either a strong support for, or a strong opposition against, CRT. We also examine the underlying assumptions shaping these definitions, which create an internally consistent narrative on each side as to why CRT is good or bad.”