The past one month has seen the media becoming very active in light of the election period that was being anticipated. Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were making their final strides in an attempt to salvage some votes so that they can swing the polling results in their favor. As a result, this period saw a lot of issues being discussed in different media outlets. Among the public policies that seemed to garner significant media attention was the Obama Care Policy and abortion (Planned Parenthood). Media outlets did little to hide their political affiliations during this period.

Both policies deserved the attention that they received during this period.  Anything that concerns the health of the public ought to be considered with the utmost weight that it deserves. Issues to do with abortion concern the life of individuals and hence should not be taken lightly too. Trump held the opinion that he would scrap the Obama Care policy upon his election as the president. He cited various shortcomings associated with the policy as the reason why he has never supported it and also claimed that it is too expensive for most Americans. Clinton, on the other hand, showed her support for the policy based that it was initiated by the Democratic government. FOX News and CNN seemed to have contrasting opinions on this issue. FOX News showed support for Trump’s sentiments. Upon reports that the premiums for the Obama Care would go up, FOX news started to propel the crisis that is within the policy. There was a provision of varied examples that showed the shortcomings associated with this policy. CNN on its part reported on the issue simply by stating that “premiums for the Obama Care policy are set to increase” without dwelling much into a critical aspect. However, CNN criticized Donald Trump’s remarks of maintaining the positive parts of the policy by asserting “Donald Trump might be suddenly making some noises in the direction of preserving parts of Obamacare, but let’s be realistic.” This was a way of downplaying his sentiments; an indication that they were not in his support.

The issue of Planned Parenthood seemed to concentrate more on the abortion aspect. Clinton being a supporter of the Planned Parenthood stood up and illuminated the issue as something that usually affects women more and hence the need for them having the opportunity of making decisions that are likely to influence their lives in one way or another. Trump, on the other hand, took this opportunity to show how this aspect tends to propel aspects of abortion. Every candidate here was trying to sway voters that supported their stance.

The media selected these items since they resonate with the public. These are issues that are likely to evoke emotions and are likely to influence how the people view a certain individual. People supporting a given viewpoint, are likely to join hands with the leader that shares the same opinion.

Differing opinions among politicians are not only vivid during campaigns, but also during policy implementations. Democrats and Republicans always seem to be on the opposite sides on different policy issues. Pal (2013) asserts that for successful policy implementation to be realized there ought to be no insurmountable external constraints, reasonable causal connections, dependency relationships communication and compliance. Republicans and Democrats fail to actualize these aspects as they strive to sabotage each other and fail to corporate at various levels. This is among the issues that result to the failure of some policies that would have turned out well if due care was exercised.

Reference

Pal, L.A. (2013). Beyond Policy Analysis: Public Issue Management in Turbulent Times. 5^th ed.  Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Nelson.

Responses

Abeir Aljarbou

Hi Abeir,

Immigration and American Foreign policy have gained the limelight over the entire campaign period.  They are issues that have elicited debate from people in different capacities. These issues gained prominence up to the final days of the campaigns. It is true that media outlets heightened the debates by bringing various facts into play, and to some extent exhibiting varied opinions on the issues. People are likely to affiliate with candidates that share their sentiments on various issues. That is why every candidate tries to take a particular stand on a given issue. The media usually helps in propelling these ideologies.

Despite your explanation on these policies, I find some contradicting information on your post. There is a point where you assert that  “these are important public issues that surpass other critical public policies in America today” and there is another point where you assert that these policies do not need prioritization. I think it would be better if you made a clear stand on this issue. You have also mentioned that voters might have lied in the opinion polls hence resulting in unexpected outcomes. This might not necessarily be the case since during the polling of opinions there were people who were still undecided, and maybe their votes shifted the outcome in the unexpected direction.

Pui Ban

Hi Ban,

It is quite true that most media outlets tend to take sides when it comes to political matters. This is usually evidenced by the way some forms of information are aired to the public. The media supports a certain candidate based on their interests or the influential figures within the structure of that organization. It is quite true that FOX news was supportive on various sentiments that were voiced by Trump. This was more on illuminating the opinions that both Trump and Clinton had on various policies. Trying to elaborate the failures of Obama care policy in such detail was meant to weaken Clinton’s stand as she was a supporter of the policy. This showed Trump as an individual that would bring changes in the health care sector as he has been opposed to the policy since its inception. It can also be said that CNN was quite critical on Trump on various occasions.

It is true that the election of Trump as president will see a different direction on various policies in the country. It is a fact that Democrats and Republicans do not see eye to eye when it comes to various policy issues. Actually, this has been among the issues causing stagnation when it comes to implementation of policies that are likely to improve the lives of Americans.

 
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