Right now, our government stands on the brink of crisis. Our elected representatives on Capital Hill are currently debating the budget for our federal government, and without some resolution in the next couple of days, our government will begin shutting down. National Parks would be the first to close, followed by programs such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, a program that helps to feed pregnant and their young, and only get worse from there. It is an understatement to say that this is a heated debate, and an important one as well, and it is something that the media has its fingers in. Now, one would again hope that the coverage of this story would be at the very least fair. This is the very sort of thing that can get people riled up and create sides. I think it would be to the betterment of all if we were simply told the reality of the situation, and urged to have our representatives compromise, regardless of political affiliation, so we can get this thing figured out. Well, that simply isn't the case. NBC's coverage of the budget crisis is a perfect example. In their article whose link I will include below, the authors are anything but productive, through their article helping to alienate their readers from one party.
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/30/20757128-first-thoughts-back-to-square-one-with-hours-to-go-until-a-shutdown?lite
The article, whose is First Thoughts: Back to Square One With Hours to Go Until a Shutdown, seeks to cover the United States' current budget crisis and the issues surrounding it. The authors talk about the disagreement over 'anti-health care legislation', the raising or lowering of the debt ceiling, current political environment on Capital Hill, and things like fundraising emails being sent out and our President's meetings in the Middle East. Though not overly abundant in detail, the authors give the reader a quick and easy look at what is going on in our government today, especially concerning the debt crisis. However, its authors consciously make what is in my opinion a major mistake: it attempts to faction its readers. While the news organization obviously has its own political lean, that to me does not excuse the authors from placing the sole blame of this crisis on the Republican party as they do. They blame the mess on the House (controlled by Republicans) for wanting to anti-health care legislation to the bill, and (rather courageously) put the responsibility of either passing the budget or shutting down the government on Speaker of the House Jim Boehner. While there is absolutely a disagreement concerning what should be done in the way of the Affordable Care Act, it should not be assumed that Republicans are the only ones who want to see reform. Members of both parties have in the past months agreed at least in part that changes need to be made before the Act goes into full effect. Additionally, the authors again help to create sides by its analysis of the debt-ceiling debate: they write that Republicans have nothing to talk about with the liberals unless it involves raising the ceiling (which, of course, has ramifications of its own). Finally, the authors of the article include an excerpt from a Politico article that absolutely blasts Republicans for sending out fundraising emails. While its inclusion is kind of puzzling, it certainty does not fail to paint conservatives in an unfavorable light.
This again is the type of news reporting that hurts the American people more than it helps them. We are currently all at the brink of a crisis, and the media cannot help itself from pointing fingers and creating sides. What I believe we need now, as I have said a thousand times, is a little uniformity. We are all United States citizens, and we are all in this together! It is so easy to want to blame someone else for your problems, but it would be much, much better if we all sucked it up, held hands, and pushed on through as a nation of free individuals. But instead, the media exercises its power by furthering the divides between people and pushing us farther apart. This type of reporting needs to stop, or the wounds that they keep on opening will never be able to heal.
I've been a little slow on the news lately and have just been reading about this possible budget situation. I guess after seeing it so many times over the past couple years you just kind of tune it out. It gets kind of ridiculous having the same argument every so often. I checked out the article you linked and find myself agreeing with you. The language used in an article can make viewers take a side on an issue that really should not be creating sides. The first little bit of it seems to put the blame on the House a little bit. I don't the Senate's idea of pushing it back until Nov. 15 is a great solution either. Of course, the amount of focus that is on the health care law seems to me a little ridiculous. With so many mounting issues this country is facing in education, infrastructure, etc, etc, that we could focus on creating solutions as opposed to just opposition. In my opinion I think something needs to be done about healthcare. I'm not sure that President Obama's plan is the best solution, but that does not mean the only response should be to vehemently oppose it at the cost of letting everything else slip. Our elected officials needs to have some unification and work together because the mess they are creating is only getting worse.
ReplyDelete