-- 4 -- Media in Politics

As of the beginning of October 2019, impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump (R), currently in inquiry phase, have yielded little besides continued discourse from both involved parties and has been cause for much speculation. Based on a series of phone calls between the President and Ukraine’s Prime Minister, which implicated potential presidential rival Joe Biden (D) in a corruption scandal, the impeachment inquiry, jumpstarted by House Democrats, aims to eventually remove the President from office.           As events unfold, the role of the media has seen significant importance, a continued trend seen especially since the advent of the Trump Campaign. One such media outlet, CNN, has been maintaining tight reporting on the matter. Itself a large media corporation, the reach and influence it has is large and strongly connected to American Politics. In general, it appeals to the more left leaning to centrist population, but anyone across spectrum may watch or recieve news as CNN is widespread and well managed, with online and television prescence. The summary of one of their articles, regarding the current events, is as follows. Amidst the ongoing discussions and series of events on the Democrat impeachment inquiries over President Trump’s phone calls to Unraike over Biden, a series of subpoenas, directed at Secretary of State Pompeo and five other state department officials (all of the current Trumop Administration) have been issued, and responses from said officials are pending. (After having missed several deadlines). In general, this article sells itself as neutral, and while not sourcing or linking direct evidence, the article quotes several officials confirming its statements. Despite this, no direct evidence or other sources were included. This article has also limited its scope, reporting solely on the inability of Pompeo of other administration officials to respond to house subpoenas, while disregarding statements from said officials themselves. The article also reaffirms the grounds by which the impeachment inquiries were initiated, and does not include official statements or counter actions taken in opposition to such proceedings. In general, due to the lack of context, I do not find the article convincing enough to be entirely objective or informative, and due to this fact I feel it is only one to be compared to other articles in order to better understand the overall political picture. On another end of the spectrum, Fox News, also a sizeable media based conglomerate, enjoys a wide following and reports regularly. In general, Fox attracts right-wing or right-leaning viewership, but Fox is also well-managed and has a wide following which results in a larger audience, with online and television prescence. Written on the same day as the previous article, the following describes the ongoing inquiry and the figures behind it. Amidst the current Impeachment inquiries and discussion in the House, Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, is described by Pelosi as being under pressure to hide whistleblower complaints critical to Democrat proceedings on the current impeachment discussions. Based on backdrop of flurry of actions in the bidoes of Congress after revelations of allegedy objectionable conversations between President Trump and the Ukrainian Prime minister, on the subject of Joe Biden. Generally, the evidence presented in the article, that being Pelosi’s words to MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe,’ is solid and referenced in the inclusion of MSNBC’s tweet of the interview. The article also refers to past articles and sources on the continuing story. However, while remaining objective, the title and focus of the article, that being in Minority Leader Pelosi, leaves much in the air and to the judgement of its audience, as only one side of the debate is present in the article and includes only Pelosi’s extended comments. With including only some of Pelosi’s statements, and Magires responses, the article is limiting the scope and removing context, while also staying objective in writing. Overall, I find this article, in writing, generally objective, but similarly to the CNN article, selects viewpoints and evidence to suggest inherent superiority of any one side. Lack of evidence or analysis of the entire series of events limits this article to be merely a small piece of the developing this story, and not an overview or a real picture of the overall story. All in all, the media, as seen in the two articles featured, maintain styles and structures meant to maintain their segmented following, and through this leave a major impact on audiences consuming their content. As large organizations, both CNN and Fox are seen to report their own leanings in the midst of events relevant to all Americans, which serves the purpose of furthering divides within the political landscape of the country.