Obama seeks leverage off gay-marriage endorsement, heads to
more fundraisers. (2012). Retrieved from Foxnews.com website: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/05/14/obama-heads-to-commencement-fundraisers-to-backdrop-gay-marriage-decision/
The article does not explicitly state who wrote it but does
say that "The Associated Press contributed to this report."
Associated Press's position as a long running, worldwide, independent,
not-for-profit cooperative should ensure that the source information is
accurate (Ekstrand, V. S. 2009). Fox News, conversely, are notoriously right
wing and oppose such issues as same-sex marriage (Fleming, J. J. 2012) and are
likely to manipulate information to represent these views. This article chose to focus on the negative
electoral implications of President Obama's support of gay marriage by way of
implied comparison between the social focus of the Democrat's campaign and the
economic focus of the Republicans'. Fox painted Obama's decision in a negative
light, implying it was a purely politically motivated move by only discussing
it as such and then using various statistics and sources to devalue it as a
political move. Fox uses the opinions of
former Democratic strategist, Kirsten Powers, to support their case thereby
distancing themselves from their well-known Republican bias. The article
cleverly downplays the moral issues of the subject matter in favour of a
political angle successfully criticising Obama's stance.
Endo, S. (2012, May 12). African-American voters react to President
Obama's shift on shift on same sex marriage,
CNN. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsG4p0RPZ24
Sandra Endo's CNN TV news report is focused around
African-American Christians' reaction to Obama's support of Same Sex Marriage.
Led by the opinions of Reverend Ralph Martino of the First Church of
Washington, the report suggested that black voters, in particular, are
disapproving of same-sex marriage. These opinions contrast CNN's own generally
pro-liberal stance (War & American Society. 2005) The Reverend states that
such an institution contradicts scripture and that they are concerned with the
decisions of the President they formerly supported. He then consolidates this by
saying that this will not sway the votes of the vast majority of his
congregation but instead they will pray that he sees the error of his ways.
Such matters of opinion have very little room for conjecture. Endo then uses
collected data to show that while opposition to same-sex marriage is higher in
the black community such opposition is lessening. This leads to a secondary
focus of the report looking at how Obama's decision will affect the voting of
the black community where through questioning the public and through use of
expert Johnathon Rauch, Endo suggests there will be very little change in the
voting of the public in wake of the decision. CNN's report focused on showing
the opinions of a select demographic and did not push a political or moral agenda
in favour of focusing on a social angle.
Baker, P., & Sussman, D. (2012, May 14). Obama’s Switch on Same-Sex
Marriage Stirs Skepticism, The New York
Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/us/politics/poll-sees-obama-gay-marriage-support-motivated-by-politics.html
Working as a pair, author, Peter Baker, and polling editor,
Dalia Sussman, bring considerable political knowledge to this New York Times
article. Baker in particular, being a leading reporter as far back as the
Lewinsky scandal, is well versed in political happenings. This coupled with the
wide held view of The New York Times as a trustworthy and respectable provider
of quality journalism (Mihal, C. 2012) makes for a credible and informed
article. Like the Fox News article the focus lies on the political implications
of Obama’s decision. The two authors wrote next to none of their own opinions
relying entirely on statistics and quotes as evidence to build their article.
Through the use of these statistics and quotes they showed it is a held opinion
that due to the manner in which Obama’s decision was released it came off as
being more politically calculated than principled. Following this they then
moved to show that while same-sex marriage is a dividing issue for the American
public it holds very little weight over the voters’ decisions, being considered
well behind the economy by the masses.
Hagerty, B. (2011). Apocalypse soon? British Journalism Review,
22(1), 3-4. doi: 10.1177/0956474810403035
In
this editorial Bill Hagerty gives his opinion on looming end of proffesional
journalism in the face of ethical controversies surrounding the media. As a
long time journalist, director of the London Press Club and editor of the
British Journalism Review, Hagerty is well qualified to discuss the subject. He
opens by saying that while the public may have been unaware of the ethical
crisis it is well known amongst those involved with politics and law. He goes
on to discuss that while underhanded acts have always been a part of
journalism, comparing modern phone hacking to bribing a telex officer for
information, the public is now far more sceptical and less willing to accept
questionable ethics. “The old guidelines have been swept away,” says Hagerty,
in relation to what journalists can now get away with. The article closes with a discussion of the
destructive effects of this change on journalism and the need for a standard to
be established for its survival citing various examples. This oddly candid and
casual admission of nefarious behavior amongst the media seems damaging but in
wake of recent ethical revelations takes a back seat to journalism’s struggle
for survival.
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