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