Media whOooOo

Hey. How you doing? I'm just kidding. I don't care. I got work to do. Let's go.

So in this blog post, I'm gonna be talking about media which is (surprise, surprise) another type of linkage institution. Whoa! It's like this whole blog is dedicated to linkage institutions or something. Who woulda thunk it?

But in all serious, the media is a very important type of linkage institution because they provide information that helps us understand current politics. However, there are many biases present in the media which heavily impact the way we perceive certain issues, the politicians we support, the way we vote, etc.

This is a stale meme, but nO ONE ASKED YOU ?

For this blog post, I decided to analyze articles written by CNN and Fox News which are affiliated with liberal and conservative audiences, respectively. As for the current issue, I decided to focus on immigration and abortion which are topics of hot debate between the two groups. Liberals are generally accepting of immigrants and believe that abortion is essential in respecting bodily autonomy. Conservatives support stricter border control and perceive abortion as an immoral practice. Both of these beliefs are highly influential in how each source presents the situation.

Anyway, here are the articles from CNN and Fox News. Basically, both of these articles talk about how an anonymous 17-year-old Central American immigrant, named Jane Doe, unlawfully crossed the US border without her parents in early September. She was informed that she was pregnant when she was in custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement and sought to have an abortion. This raised an argument between ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) lawyers and the Justice Department. ACLU supported her decision while the Justice Department claimed that the US should not facilitate an illegal immigant's abortion.

On October 24, lower courts held that the government could not block the abortion, and the Justice Department was informed that the procedure would be carried out on October 26. They asked to be informed of all updates with the procedure, yet they were not notified that it was actually scheduled for October 25. The Trump administration now wants the Supreme Court to vacate the lower court order that allowed the teen to have her abortion. They argue this on the grounds that they were misled about the timing.

Both CNN's and Fox News's articles cover this topic adequately. The information that they provide tends to overlap, which indicates that they didn't significantly alter the facts in their favor. However, each source still has a very strong bias which manifests in more subtle ways.

First off, each title frames the situation differently. CNN's title says, "Trump admin asks Supreme Court to review immigrant abortion case." Meanwhile, Fox News's title says, "Trump team wants Supreme Court to discipline ACLU for helping 17-year-old illegal immigrant get abortion." As you can see, CNN presents the case very mildly since the words "asks" and "review" don't have a strong positive/negative connotation. Fox News, though, uses very powerful diction. The word "discipline" already portrays ACLU as the wrongdoers who deserve to be punished, and the emphasis on Doe being an illegal immigrant and teen mom is likely to elicit very negative reactions from Conservatives.

(Honestly, this kinda reminds me of how two siblings tell their mom that they did something wrong. One sibling is just like, "Oh yeah this happened blah blah blah." While the other one is like, "GiVE tHem a TiMeOuT!" That's just me though.)

Second, CNN presents more legal information that seems to justify ACLU's perspective. They further describe the logistics of the situation by writing the following statement: "Because Texas law requires parental consent or a judicial waiver before an abortion for a minor, Doe, with the assistance of a court-appointed guardian, received the necessary judicial permission." This information assures the readers that the procedure itself was not illegal since Jane Doe met all the state requirements. It calms the opposition that the readers may feel and implicitly persuades them to agree with ACLU's position.

Furthermore, CNN follows up this information with a one-sentence-long paragraph which states, "The federal government, however, had declined to transport her to the clinic." This sentence is especially impactful since it is separated into its own paragraph. This organization makes the readers linger on this fact, possibly leading them to disagree with the federal government’s lack of cooperation after she met the legal requirements to go through with the procedure.

And finally (it took us a long time to get here), both articles solidify their biases with their final statements. CNN alludes to the Supreme Court case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, by writing, "In 1992, the Supreme Court affirmed the right to an abortion and held that the government cannot impose an 'undue burden' on a woman seeking an abortion." Fox News, on the other hand, states, "In its appeal on Friday, the Justice Department lawyers said a young woman who crosses the border illegally has not [sic] right to obtain an abortion." Because these sentences are the last in the text, they are arguably the most memorable and will leave a lasting impression in the readers' minds. CNN wants you to remember that it is illegal to deny abortions, regardless of citizenship and the lack thereof. Fox News wants you to remember that illegal immigrants should not have this right.

Overall, both of these sources are relevant to the ongoing debate about immigration and abortion. They provide adequate information which highlights Jane Doe's status as an illegal immigrant. If she were an American citizen, it is likely that the Trump administration may not have been as opposed to the procedure. However, her immigration status raises the question of whether the US should aid undocumented immigrants in certain medical procedures.

Needless to say, both of these sources are incredibly biased. Although they include credible and relevant information that is essential to understanding the issue, the way that they frame these facts leans in favor of certain groups. Despite this, I'm still convinced of CNN's article. This isn't because it was written any better though. It is still just as biased as Fox News. The only reason why I agree with CNN's point of view is because I already had strong opinions concerning immigration and abortion.

So yuh. That's it. Sorry that this post was so long, but I gotta get dem sevens though (Hint, hint. Wink, wonk. *cough*pleasegivemeanA+*cough* )