The House of
Representatives have passed a bill, against the wishes of the the Senate and
the President, that will shut down, according to the Huffington Post, the
government unless ‘Democrats agree to defund Obamacare.’ This measure is known
as a stop gap bill, which means that it is being passed to stop the Health Care
Law. The hope is that by stopping the Affordable Care Act, the government will
save the middle class from devastation due to the increase in taxes that it
will place on those who fall under the bracket.
The House
Republicans maintain that by stopping Obamacare, they are protecting the
American population, not shutting down the government. I feel that the
Huffington Post’s wording is being used more as an influential tool, rather
than an informative report on the matter at hand. Our media is constantly
trying to influence our emotions one-way or the other. The important thing to
remember is that the media is a source to gain information. It should not be
used to gain ideologies.
Here is the
Link:
Feel free to
explain your point of view. How do you feel the Huffington Post is presenting
this information? Are they being ‘real’ or simply dramatic?
Great post on a very pertinent topic!
ReplyDeleteWhat I found interesting was that the wordage kept going back and forth between sequestration and shutdown, which, if I am not mistaken, are quite different. Sequestration would result in belt tightening while shutdown would be much more catastrophic given the current financial climate of the country. I actually did not find the article too biased, with the exception of the title. A heavy majority of it consisted of quotes from both sides and so unless I am missing some really subtle semantic trick, I found it to be informative.
Best,
Plamen
I see your point without doing a word count I wasn't able to find any redeeming value in the article for any objective reasoning behind what the article portrayed to be Republican partisan anti-Obamacare bias.
ReplyDeleteThere was a lot about Pelosi's distress, and the effect a government shutdown would have on soldiers and other emotional appeals.
I also thought it was interesting that in the last paragraph they make an appeal to the recovering economy, but do not address the costs of Obamacare either to the nation or to individuals if congress were to fund it.
Great post. This is a classic "he said, she said" article. At the same time, the whole article did not focus on defunding Obamacare. I did find the article pretty objective and informative though. I agree with you that the news should not try to gain ideological followers, but unfortunately, this is how most of the mainstream news is presented these days. They are a business and they try to get as many viewers as possible, even if it means being partisan.
ReplyDeleteGreat post and I can definitely agree that you find a lot play on the wording throughout the article. The key point you mentioned is that its the medias job to gain information, not ideologies. I think that is key when it comes to reporting. I also feel that it is medias job to inform and educate as well and with that consumers will gain information and understanding. Without doing so you will find bias or "he said, she said" and that is unacceptable under any news realm. great post!!!
ReplyDelete