The Pope

As many of you are aware, the Pope recently released his world view. The document he released summarizes his world view and how the Catholic Church should react to world problems. Interestingly enough he had much to say regarding the world economic system. He lashed out at market forces that, in his view, have castigated millions of poor folks at the expense of a few millionaires. He got really specific at which policies he thought had done most of the damage of economic inequality over the past few decades. I was very surprised that a religious figure was so open to speaking about public policy. He was very frank in what he considered public policy fallacies,

“Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world,” Francis wrote in the papal statement. “This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacra­lized workings of the prevailing economic system.”

His message has special resonance to the political discourse in the United States. Do you think the Pope should be speaking about highly polarizing issues. Whatever your opinion may be, I would be very interested in hearing it. Such a highly esteemed figure and his teachings have implications for billions of Catholics worldwide.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/pope-francis-denounces-trickle-down-economic-theories-in-critique-of-inequality/2013/11/26/e17ffe4e-56b6-11e3-8304-caf30787c0a9_story.html

False Equivalency?

The rollout of the Affordable Care Act has undoubtedly tarnished the President's image with the American people. Most people believe this program will simply not work because of the rollout. Others believe that this is definitive prove that the government should not be meddling in the everyday affairs of Americans. All that being said, it has been immensely interesting to see how the media has been covering this entire debacle. Many of them have been comparing the rollout of a Federal program to massive disasters during George W. Bush's term. I don't know how I feel about this comparison to Katrina..it simply doesn't seem equivalent. Some anchors have also compared it to the Iraq War. Again I don't think these are fair comparisons. The folks from Media Matters have their perspective on it as well. What do you think?

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/11/20/wmd-guilt-with-obamacare-the-press-keeps-trying/196986

CBS Mess Up

I'm sure most of you have heard about the major screw up that CBS has committed with their latest reporting on Benghazi. CBS has a very respected name in news reporting but unfortunately they have tainted that name quite a bit with this latest reporting. It is vastly unfortunate that they did not double check their sources. Do y'all think this happened because they were trying to make a political point? Or was it careless errors by the producers?

Here's another possible problem:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/11/12/60-minutes-still-hasnt-mentioned-their-benghazi/196862

Election Results

A few days ago we had a few elections around the country! There were a few wins that could be seen as potential predictors of future elections around the nation. First off Terry McAuliffe won in Virginia due to his coalition of the ascendant such as minorities, women and young folks. He emulated the model that catapulted Barack Obama to the Presidency and has been key for the Democrats over the past few elections cycles. Although he campaigned as a bipartisan politician, he never backed off his positions on guns and his social liberalism. This election is particularly interesting because many people believe that Virginia is the new Ohio. It will become more pivotal as future cycles come. All that being said I will include how Fox and MSNBC covered the win of the Governor-elect. How different is the coverage from the news organizations.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/11/06/mcauliffe-wins-virginia-governor-race/

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/target-mcauliffe-wins-big-gun-control

Media Inclusion of Economists

Although both political parties have different views regarding which sort of budget we will have in the future, we have finally at least sat down to conference. This past Wednesday both major parties had a conference meeting in order to be able to hash out the differences between them. Surprisingly enough, I did not see many media outlets cover the conference nor pay much attention to it. I assume once we begin to inch closer to the deadline in March they will pay more attention. Since they hadn't given it much attention, I decided to look back during last year's budget battles. I found an astonishing article in Media Matters that deals with how many economists had been interviewed on the major networks. Media Matters says, "In a recently published study of news segments discussing current budget negotiations, Media Matters found that the presence of economists was sorely lacking - out of 503 total guests in the 337 segments analyzed, only 22 were economists." 

Why do y'all think this is? In an economic debate, shouldn't economists lead the way in what prescription best fits the country? I think it is quite shameful. 

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/12/13/economists-and-economics-absent-from-media-cove/191837

Media Coverage on Healthcare Policy

With all of the healthcare talk going on in Washington I wanted to look back a few years. It was always particularly interesting to me seeing how the media framed the issue of healthcare reform. Although there were many disparaging points of view on the issue, there was a general consensus that the system was in need of serious reforms. Another emerging consensus was the fact that a big chunk of Americans believed the government should make sure that all Americans had access to quality healthcare insurance. The article that I read regarding media coverage found that the media did a very poor job of having substantive policy debates. They rely heavily on a study conducted by Pew that looked at thousands of articles covering the debate. They found that the majority of media coverage was dedicated towards political strategy and not about the actual law. I suspect this might be a reason as to why many Americans are not fully informed about the Affordable Care Act and its mission. What do you think of the horrendous media coverage during this contentious debate?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/22/health-care-reform-media_n_620892.html

Media coverage of Syria

The Atlantic has an interesting piece regarding how major American newspapers framed the Syria intervention debate. Given that this was a huge topic a few weeks back I wonder what y'all think of this. They claim that all these newspapers are inserting a bias into their narrative whether they realize it or not. I know we've had previous discussions regarding whether journalists should report both sides or if they should seek truth and facts regardless of what way they lean. This piece has a brief overview and excerpts for which I would like to see what y'all thought. Give it a go.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/09/the-press-and-the-syria-debate-neither-neutral-nor-balanced/279256/

Government Shutdown and Political Brinkmanship

As we all know now, the Federal Government has been shut down for the first time in 17 years. It is truly a shame that we cannot pass a simple budget in order to make sure that the most powerful nation on Earth has a functioning government. Although I don't like to take sides regarding these political debates for class discussions, this debate seems pretty clear to me. We must fund the government in order to make sure we are fulfilling our obligation to our people. There is one political party, the Republican Party, that will not fund the government unless a US law is defunded or delayed. It is truly an untenable position. Imagine if every time a party tried to advance their political agenda, instead of legislating and winning elections, they would threaten to shut the entire government down. We can be of different political thinking but I think everyone knows this is no way to get rid of a law that you do not like.

That being said, both parties are now looking to score political points instead of trying to find compromise to restore funding. It seems as if they don't care that the majority of the American people want them to find compromise. One administration official was quoted on the Wall Street Journal as not caring how long the shut down dragged on for because they are winning politically. On the Republican side Rand Paul was caught talking politics with Mitch McConnell. What do y'all think of all the politics these politicians are playing? I'd be willing to wager that the majority of them would be horrified by the fact that most of these folks seem to concentrate on politics as opposed to solving problems. Below are both the open mic video and the article regarding the Obama Administration.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303492504579113781436540284.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsMfg0E2Ekc

Federal Government Shutdown

The United States of America has not had a Federal Government shutdown in 17 years but it seems as if we are closer to that reality since then. It seems as if the two major political parties, Democrats and Republicans, are at a major stalemate of government funding regarding a particular piece of legislation. The Republicans claim they are trying to save the American people from the dangers of a legislation, Obamacare, that will end up hurting them as opposed to helping them. They voted last night to delay the bill for one more year so they can work through it. The Democrats insist that this debate has already happened over the past four years. Congress passed the bill, it was upheld by the Supreme Court and the President was reelected. They claim the American people do not want a shutdown over the bill. What do you think is motivating both parties here?

Is the media being a responsible watchdog and calling out politicians that are playing politics with the Federal Government's funding? Should they be more involved in the debate? Furthermore, the American people are clearly not in favor of defunding or shutting down.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/09/23/poll-americans-oppose-shutdown-threat-59-19-percent/

Immigration Reform Dead?

The United States Senate passed a vastly bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill over the summer to deal with the issue. One of the major lessons from the last Presidential election was the massive outreach the Republican Party must undertake in order to put itself in a favorable light with Hispanic voters. Many pundits believed that in order to begin this outreach and be able to win a larger share of the Hispanic vote the Republicans needed to put Immigration reform behind them. Unfortunately, the House has not done much in regards to this topic. In a blow to reform two of the 7 members of a bipartisan group working on the issue in the House have left the group. Do y'all think the reform is dead? And if so, what implications will this have for Republicans nationally?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/09/20/in-blow-to-immigration-reform-house-gang-of-seven-bill-looks-dead/

The Washington Post and its new owner.

Seeing as how this blog is all about seeking the truth I wonder what Post's new owner, Jeffrey P. Bezos, will bring to the organization. The Washington Post has been and will continue to be one of the most influential publications in the country and the world. I wonder how you all think this new owner will change the Post. Will he move towards a more objective or more slanted point of view? How will Mr. Bezos bring his Amazon experience to the media world. Many of the folks working at the Post are incredibly sad but ready to take on a new challenge with a new owner.

There have also been a number of publications that have been sold recently. Since these organizations are become less and less profitable do you all think that, for the industry as a whole to survive, they will have to become more opinionated? These are challenging times for the Newspaper industries; what are your opinions on how the industries should evolve to retain members?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/business/media/amazoncom-founder-to-buy-the-washington-post.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Welcome!

Hello fellow students!

I thought long and hard about what I wanted my theme to be for the purpose of this class but then I began to think much wider. As I listen to John Mayer's new album (which is phenomenal by the way, go get it!) it reminds me that his new record is about searching for the truth regardless of where it may lead us. Sometimes it may lead us to conclusions that we don't necessarily agree with. I want to dedicate all the posts on this blog to the theme of truth regardless of ideology or personal preference. I hope y'all will join me in the same search in order to elevate the political discourse a bit more.

As Will McAvoy, from the Newsroom, would say, "I'm on a mission to civilize!" Let's all try to civilize the debate.