Andy Burnham's first day in No 10 produced two kinds of coverage. One outlet asked whether the new guy's promises check out. The other one mostly said: hope. * Pull up the Guardian's politics feed this morning and the word "hope" appears in three separate headlines. The news desk has Burnham vowing to "bring back hope." Polly Toynbee advises readers to "cling to hope." John Harris reports that the Burnham he's met over the past 20 years "gives me hope for British politics." That's not a news section. That's a mood board. * Same feed, same morning: a podcast called "Burnham begins," a glowing editorial ("the right vision, but time is of the essence"), and three separate commissioned cartoons of the man — Ben Jennings, Ella Baron, Martin Rowson. Three. The Guardian produced more drawings of Andy Burnham in 24 hours than some outlets ran photographs. * Now walk over to the BBC. They quoted the hope line too — it's what he said on the steps, fair enough. The difference is what they stapled to it. Under "Burnham pledges to end rough sleeping in first speech as prime minister," the BBC's own subhead reads: "The Labour leader made a similar pledge as Greater Manchester mayor, although he failed to achieve this." That's a fact-check delivered in the second sentence. A receipt, attached at the moment of purchase. * The rest of the BBC's front kept the same posture. "Is Burnham promising a new dawn for North Sea oil and gas?" is a question, not a toast. "Thames Water lenders preparing legal challenge in event of Burnham nationalisation" is lawyers sharpening pencils. Skeptical verbs, day one. * To be fair to the Guardian's reporters: buried under the confetti, the news desk was quietly doing its job — "Briefing wars: how Labour ministers tried, and failed, to get into Burnham's cabinet" is a proper story, and so is the one about his team walking a "fiscal tightrope." The journalism is there. It's just performing to a choir that won't stop humming. * And look, after years of covering Labour like a couple in counselling, the Guardian has earned a nice weekend. But day-one coverage sets the rubric the first 100 days get graded on. "Cling to hope" is a lovely instruction for readers. It's a terrible one for a newsroom.