IMC Hawks Blog

Tag: Fox News

  • Ready or Not, Here We Come!

    Well, it wasn’t ready. The Affordable Care Act website, that is. Commonly known as Obamacare by critics, the program officially launched October 1, 2013 and attempts to allow each American the opportunity to have affordable health care. The program was signed into law in 2010, but only just now became part of daily American life. The website experienced technical errors last week, and again this past Tuesday. However, this was unrelated to the government shutdown. Instead, the system experienced a major overload due to mass traffic to the site, claimed those who run it. An estimated 8 million visitors forced the site to send a response of “Please Wait and Be Patient,” CNBC reports. Run by the Department of Health and Human Services, the process to acquire a health care quote is actually quite simple. I myself did it and, just shy of giving my contact information, I was inches from an affordable quote in less than two minutes.

    Page that loads with technical issues, courtesy of MSNBC
    Page that loads with technical issues, courtesy of MSNBC

    Fox News said that the 93 million dollar website was the victim of poor Java Script coding, to the point where, simply put, the site freezes up. It doesn’t know where to go or in which direction to proceed. Yet MSNBC follows the path of the HHS, saying it was simply a matter of visitor overload to the site. MSNBC did not report, as of posting, that there were Java Script coding issues.

    So. Which to believe? It is common knowledge that news stations lean differently towards their side, whether it be right or left. Even CNN, a major world news outlet, leans toward one side. This post is neither liberal nor conservative, and it neither promotes nor discourages the Affordable Care Act. However, it does encourage that American citizens not rely solely on one news outlet for information. Rather, gather your news from a multitude of sources. Otherwise a viewer faces the possibility of being a victim of “Spiral of Silence.” The Spiral of Silence is an instance where an individual, with one opinion differing from that of the majority, is unable to voice said opinion for fear of judgment. For instance, if I believe Theory X, but my neighborhood only watches one news channel that reports solely on Theory Y, the neighborhood will only be educated on Theory Y. If the entirety of the neighborhood, apart from myself, believes in Theory Y, I would be uncomfortable in expressing my opinions and differences. I am lost in the Spiral of Silence. If you support a cause that one news station does not, you are only educated on their belief. In the land of the free, is our free speech being suppressed by the media?

    -Hilary Hall

  • Four More Years… of Media Frenzy?

    All night long Americans were glued to their televisions or their computers anticipating the results of the 2012 Presidential Election. Around 11:20PM on Tuesday, November 6th America got their answer: four more years for President Barack Obama. Some celebrated and some cried. This election deepened the political divide between Americans unlike any other election. What made this election different from any other? The answer is the mainstream media bias.

    Even though Obama’s campaign team stood their ground in the battleground states, the real winner should be media outlets. Whether it was the presidential debates or the campaign trail, media coverage was everywhere. Does this increased access to information via the media mean we are better informed than we used to be? The mainstream media is our main source of information; we rely on them to know what is going on outside of our bubble.

    The question is… what happens when the media takes on a biased role? A major criticism of the media is that it isn’t just giving us information but also conditioning us about how to think about the issues. CNN and Fox News are criticized as two of the most biased sources in the market, and they are also two of the largest. This means the same story can be presented on both outlets but the facts included can persuade the reader to feel a certain way about the issue. This article from CNN states that Romney supporters were asking for Fox News instead of CNN when it became clear that Obama was taking the lead. This is good news in that it means people are aware of the biased, however, turning to a known biased source to get the story you want compromises the credibility of the information you receive.

    Media bias is everywhere. It is nearly impossible to get just the facts on the current issues. As informed consumers, this leads us to question how the bias impacts the general public. What happens when the public accepts the bias opinion as factual information? For one thing, the party divide deepens. A conservative tuning into Fox News sees his/her beliefs reaffirmed day after day, and the same happens when a liberal tunes into CNN. After a while, this can create a red and blue polarization. In some cases the divide has increased so much so that the two parties cannot begin to reason with the opposite side. Does this mean it is the media’s fault we have become so divided in our political views?

    Now that the election is over, it is time that we refocus our attention on the issues at hand in our country and work together for the greater good of America despite personal political affiliation. Is this still possible with such biased media? Regardless of who won, how do we now come together to do what is best for America? President Obama: the media will either provide a platform to cultivate support for your ideas, or tear every move you make to shreds. As citizens of this great nation, we are all rooting for you… the President of the United States of America.

    – Alexandra Huss, Caroline Merrill, Alyssa Morrello, Lauren Van Trigt, Dann Williams

  • Ron Paul, Who?

    Over the past eight years, the media coverage regarding Ron Paul has been very lackluster to say the least. Although most of the coverage he has received has been positive, the overall amount is significantly lower than the other candidates running. The messages he supports are often considered the most accurate and truthful by any candidate and many believe him to be the most qualified for the political office. However, the media seems to have its own agenda, and seem to have a different idea on who should be the frontrunner.

    Although there are four candidates, CNN seems to believe that only three are relevant. Missing from this photo is Ron Paul, sitting just left of candidate Santorum.

    Both CNN and Fox News are partially to blame for this so-called “media blackout”, and have not been giving fair coverage to Congressman Paul. When it comes to debates or discussion, Ron Paul seems to mysteriously disappear from the subject and is often overlooked. In a recent interview with Fox News, he states that he has observed that the amount of coverage on himself post-debate has a ratio of about 90:1 in favor of his opponents. This shows a tendency that the media does not believe that Ron Paul has the ability to win the candidacy and therefore neglects to give him adequate coverage.

    Although the media coverage on Ron Paul is largely absent from television and news broadcasting channels, he receives overwhelming support on major social media networks. Seeing as the majority of his supporters are those of a younger generation, Twitter plays a large part of his support and communication between his fans. During a recent poll, the Washington Post found that from July of 2011 to January of 2012 that the amount of mentions on Twitter significantly increased from about 30,000 to almost 260,000. Compared to Newt Gingrich who had 294,000 mentions, Ron Paul still comes in second. Luckily, thanks to his many loyal supporters there is still a good chance for him to succeed despite the media’s lack of belief.

    Leslie Tyler, Leanna Marshall, Bryce Koonts, Julius Roberts