1. How is the media talking about Barack Obama's fiscal policies? Read this to find out. Is the media a pussyfooter when it comes to this issue? Might the media be trying to manage the public worry about the economy?
2. A bit old news now, but worth discussing. See this cartoon from the 2.18.09 NY Post. The big question: racist or satire? You can read about the Post's response and see what readers had to say as well. Quite a bot topic. For any newspaper, how do you balance intent and impact in a situation like this?
5 comments:
In response to the article about media coverage of Obama's fiscal policies...
I can definitely understand where the author of this piece is coming from. It seems like in 2009 so far, there has been a real attitude shift in presidential coverage. Part of it, I am sure, has to do with partisanship. But part of it I also think is directly related to the tough times that the US is going through. The nearly optimistic tone of many journalists at the ways the government is handling the recession leads me to question the point of news. Are we writing to uncover everything we can to then leave the public to do with the information what it will? Is it ethical to alter our writing so it inspires hope instead of despair? Sophomore year, we talked a lot in class about the idea that it's the newspaper's job to print things that are "good for the community." Obviously, that job opens up the issue of bias in journalism. It doesn't really seem possible to completely eliminate spin considering even an angle affects the message portrayed to readers.
So then, is it better for the community to know everything the media can tell them regardless of the consequences? I definitely think it's a conversation worth having and hits straight into how we decide which articles to run at school. As journalists we constantly ask ourselves, 'what's the purpose of my article?' It seems that when we read professional articles about the economy these days, we should be asking the same question.
Also in response to Obama's fiscal policies:
It would seem that since Obama was elected to office, he can do no wrong. The "liberal" media has idolized him. (I hate to label the media as a whole, but I've noticed that a lot of personal bias has emerged). I understand why so many journalists are trying to make it seem like Obama and the government are taking beneficial steps towards fixing the economy. While I won't deny that people's trust in the government will help get us out of the recession, I'm not sure that the news is the place for adjectives used in a semi-biased way. I always think that news should be just the truth, and just what is going on, not what people want to hear.
I think that this would be a great topic to discuss during class. The role of a newspaper in a community varies depending on who you talk to. So do we want people to be "awe-inspired" or informed of what's really going on regardless of what it does to the country's morale?
I agree with the critics sentiments that the cartoon is inappropriate. Using a monkey to depict the president is hurtful and irresponsible, because it ignores a history of racial inequities and stereotypes, one of them being that black people are somehow like monkeys. To say that the cartoon is "only a cartoon" is to say that the post has no responsibility to the public to be conscientious and accepting to all members of society, which I believe is untrue. Every newspaper and newsmagazine has an obligation to the public to be responsible, and the Post has failed in that regard. I doubt the Post would have published a cartoon whose caption read: "black people are not people, they're monkeys" yet that's what the cartoon is saying, just without words. The cartoon does not honor the history of oppression that this country has had but rather ignores it. There are many ways that the paper could have criticized the Stimulus Plan, which they have every right to do, but to compare the president to a monkey is not one of those ways
In response to the post regarding the cartoon:
This is sort of weird that you posted this Mary, because we had recently held a discussion in Making Waves regarding this cartoon. Anyway...
Although the cartoon is very offensive, I find the Post's apology to more offensive. The cartoon clearly depicts our first black president as a primate. It is widely known that a common and hurtful stereotype of black people is that they have a connection to monkeys, and for someone to imply that they were unaware of this stereotype is quite disappointing. The apology letter seems to repeatedly apologize to those who were offended, and then imply that they did nothing wrong by saying that sometimes, a cartoon is a cartoon.
Also, it is ignorant of the paper to assume that the only reason this cartoon is receiving so much negative attention is du to some media sources that want "payback". This cartoon is offensive regardless of whether it is publicized or not, and for the Post to direct their apology to certain people and not others is simply cowardly. I dream of a day when the ridiculous stereotype of blacks having a resemblance to primates is so farfetched that a newspaper will think twice before they publish such a cartoon and call it a coincidence.
Obama’s Fiscal Policies
So much was done by the media prior to Obama’s election to exaggerate the benefits of Obama’s plan, that anything even slightly negative said about his plan would presumably bring about public worry; it seems that the media has brought this situation upon themselves. I believe that it is the media’s responsibility to report the objective truth (whatever that is), and I do not think that the use of these “fuzzy” adjectives in the news really changes the truth. Is it really wrong to instill hope in the public as long as the media is still reporting correct facts?
Spin and bias is perhaps inevitable in most of our news sources (as we are not robots…yet…), and those that want the universal truth will still have to cover the story from multiple sources. I guess I am going against the grain of what has been said here, but it seems like this situation has been blown out of proportion.
-Tiras Lin
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