Tag Archive for 'obama'
From the pages of The Progressive Billiken:
The rise of 24-hour cable news and prime time commentary shows, along with the recent controversies surrounding Juan Williams, Rick Sanchez, and Keith Olbermann, have produced a growing public debate about the role and function of media in our society. While Sarah Palin laments the liberal bias of the “Lame-stream media,” organizations like Media Matters accuse the FOX News channel of functioning as a wing of the Republican Party. Unfortunately, they’ve all missed the point, and the media continues to fall into a death spiral. Jon Stewart, in his Rally to Restore Sanity, came closest to the truth when he declared before a crowd of 215,000 people (myself included) “We live in hard times, not end times. We can have animus without being enemies.” Stewart, unlike countless other media critics, recognized that the problem with media is much more pervasive and complex than bias. Bias is only a symptom of a disease that has plagued our media and threatens to dismantle responsible journalism.
To understand this disease, we must look beyond the bias wars. It is indisputable that FOX News, MSNBC, and CNN are all guilty of bias. I do not mean to suggest any false equivalency between these channels; I am only pointing out that bias exists to some degree in all of them. Rather than wade into the debate of which channel has the most bias, I want to examine the roots of bias, and the reasons that it plays a dominant role in our media. Journalists have always had bias; they are not robotic, impartial arbitrators. They are human beings, they have opinions, and they tend to vote. So the question must be asked, what about the media today allows these opinions, and personal biases, to become so obvious and dominant in political coverage? Once this question is asked, it becomes clear that the problem is not bias itself, but the way in which today’s media approaches journalism.
Turn on any cable news channel, and watch for an hour: CNN will show you a few thousand Tweets and Facebook posts anecdotally illustrating how Americans feel about the President, MSNBC will provide analysis explaining how Democrats will hold on to the White House in 2012, and FOX News will offer colorful commentary on the connections between America today and Russia prior to the Bolshevik Revolution. It is easy to only see the bias, but the real common thread is the dominance of process stories. In today’s 24-hour news cycle, 90% of the coverage is devoted to horserace politics, 9% is devoted to pretty graphics, and 1% is used for actually talking about substantive issues (unless a boy is trapped in a balloon in the sky). When the media focuses its attention on the horserace, it empowers bias.
The media’s coverage of health care legislation over the last year is a shining example of this problem. Health care reform addressed a number of systemic problems in our country’s health care system with complex regulations, oversight, and policy shifts. Rather than analyzing the problems with the current health care system, examining proposals to address them, and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the individual components of legislation, the media chose to focus its coverage on the partisan bickering on Capitol Hill. Pundits amplified partisan talking points rather than digging deeper into the real issues at hand. More time was spent speculating on whether Democrats would pull together enough votes to pass the bill than on what was actually in the bill. While many pundits criticized lawmakers for not reading the bill, this criticism would have been better directed at journalists who were as ignorant about the bill’s content as anyone.
It is no wonder our electorate is so misinformed, our politics so divisive, and progress so difficult. We have traded our democracy for a game show. I am thankful for Jon Stewart for making a statement about the media, but we cannot stop with a comedian-led rally in Washington D.C. Furthermore, we cannot improve our media by pointing fingers and making accusations about those media sources that do not subscribe to our brand of bias. This perpetuates the problem — encouraging cable news channels to compete by producing the same crap in a different package.
We must demand accountability and responsible reporting. We must reinforce the most important pillar of our democracy, prioritizing quality news coverage over speculative process stories. We must stop giving our attention to pundits that scream the loudest and start listening to the journalists who prioritize substance over process, information over argument, and truth over presentation. As Jon Stewart put it, “If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.”
We’ll be meeting in The Billiken Club to watch a livestream of President Obama’s rally in Madison, Wisconsin – where he plans to address young people across the country. Join us as we watch together and plan how we’re going to get out the vote on our campus.
This is a great opportunity to register to vote and learn what is at stake on November 2, 2010.
Tomorrow (9/21) we will be meeting at 7pm in the Busch Student Center Senate Chambers.
At the meeting, the Executive Board will be presenting our comprehensive strategy for victory on November 2nd, as well as sharing information from last weekend’s Missouri Youth Vote Summit.
Also, we will announce two major upcoming events:
-On September 28th, the President will be holding a rally in Madison, WI focused on the importance of the youth vote in November. We will be holding a watch party and rally to energize SLU students to vote in November. Get the inside scoop at the meeting tomorrow!
-On Friday, September 24th, State Auditor Susan Montee will be having a rally/meet-and-greet in Saint Louis. This is a great opportunity to meet a statewide elected official and learn what is at stake in November. Again, make sure you come to the meeting tomorrow to get all the details!
College Democrats across the state and across the country are fired up and ready to take America forward in November – Don’t miss your chance to be part of this movement here at SLU!
Office of the Press Secretary
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THE PRESIDENT: Today, we pause to remember a day that tested our country. On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 lives were lost in the deadliest attack on American soil in our history. We will never forget the images of planes vanishing into buildings; of photos hung by the families of the missing. We will never forget the anger and sadness we felt. And while nine years have come and gone since that September morning, the passage of time will never diminish the pain and loss forever seared in the consciousness of our nation.
That is why, on this day, we pray with the families of those who died. We mourn with husbands and wives, children and parents, friends and loved ones. We think about the milestones that have passed over the course of nine years – births and christenings, weddings and graduations – all with an empty chair.
On this day, we also honor those who died so that others might live: the firefighters and first responders who climbed the stairs of two burning towers; the passengers who stormed a cockpit; and the men and women who have, in the years since, borne the uniform of this country and given their lives so that our children could grow up in a safer world. In acts of courage and decency, they defended a simple precept: I am my brother’s keeper; I am my sister’s keeper.
And on this day, we recall that at our darkest moment, we summoned a sense of unity and common purpose. We responded to the worst kind of depravity with the best of our humanity.
So, each year at this time, we renew our resolve against those who perpetrated this barbaric act of terror and who continue to plot against us – for we will never waver in defense of this nation. We renew our commitment to our troops and all who serve to protect this country, and to their families. But we also renew the true spirit of that day. Not the human capacity for evil, but the human capacity for good. Not the desire to destroy, but the impulse to save.
That is why we mark September 11th as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. For if there is a lesson to be drawn on this anniversary, it is this: we are one nation – one people – bound not only by grief, but by a set of common ideals. And that by giving back to our communities, by serving people in need, we reaffirm our ideals – in defiance of those who would do us grave harm. We prove that the sense of responsibility that we felt for one another was not a fleeting passion – but a lasting virtue.
This is a time of difficulty for our country. And it is often in such moments that some try to stoke bitterness – to divide us based on our differences, to blind us to what we have in common. But on this day, we are reminded that at our best, we do not give in to this temptation. We stand with one another. We fight alongside one another. We do not allow ourselves to be defined by fear, but by the hopes we have for our families, for our nation, and for a brighter future. So let us grieve for those we’ve lost, honor those who have sacrificed, and do our best to live up to the values we share – on this day, and every day that follows.
Thank you.
Several major aspects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Health Care Reform, will take effect on September 23rd:
Extending Coverage for Young Adults
Under the new law, young adults will be allowed to stay on their parent’s plan until they turn 26 years old. (In the case of existing group health plans, this right does not apply if the young adult is offered insurance at work.) Some insurers began implementing this practice early. Check with your insurance company or employer to see if you qualify. Learn more about the young adults insurance policy.
Providing Free Preventative Care
All new plans must cover certain preventive services such as mammograms and colonoscopies without charging a deductible, co-pay or coinsurance. Learn more about preventive care benefits.
Prohibiting Insurance Companies from Rescinding Coverage
In the past, insurance companies could search for an error, or other technical mistake, on a customer’s application and use this error to deny payment for services when he or she got sick. The new law makes this illegal. After media reports cited incidents of breast cancer patients losing coverage, insurance companies agreed to end this practice immediately.
Appealing Insurance Company Decisions
The law provides consumers with a way to appeal coverage determinations or claims to their insurance company, and establishes an external review process.
Eliminating Lifetime Limits on Insurance Coverage
Under the new law, insurance companies will be prohibited from imposing lifetime dollar limits on essential benefits, like hospital stays.
Regulating Annual Limits on Insurance Coverage
Under the new law, insurance companies’ use of annual dollar limits on the amount of insurance coverage a patient may receive will be restricted for new plans in the individual market and all group plans. In 2014, the use of annual dollar limits on essential benefits like hospital stays will be banned for new plans in the individual market and all group plans.
Prohibiting Denying Coverage of Children Based on Pre-Existing Conditions
The new law includes new rules to prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to children under the age of 19 due to a pre-existing condition.
Our president has accomplished a lot so far. Midterm elections in November will decide if we will keep our momentum and continue to make progress, or if we will turn backward and lose the gains we have made.
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