One form of rhetoric that I tend to check multiple times a day are newspaper's. The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist are a few that I read if not every day, then at least a few times a week. All of the above listed newspapers have first rate reporting, intelligent columnists, and an opinionated editorial section. While most of the reporting is generally similar, all differ significantly when it comes to the opinion pages. By reading a diverse set of viewpoints, I feel that I am best informed to take an intelligent stance concerning the issues.
The Washington Post generally specializes in covering national news and (since it is in Washington, D.C.) the federal government. The weekly columnists represent a diverse set of views. Liberals like E.J. Dionne and Eugene Robinson, as well as Conservatives such as Charles Krauthammer and George Will, are both given press time. The editorial stance of the newspaper can best be described as "moderate." The Post supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and has been an advocate for free trade agreements such as CAFTA and the KORUS FTA. At the same time, Barack Obama was endorsed for the 2008 Presidential Election and generally supporting gay rights and abortion rights.
The New York Times is perhaps the largest and most well known newspaper in the world. It covers a broad area of topics, ranging from national and international news, to comprehensive style and business sections. The weekly columnists tend to be liberal to centrist. The editorial section solidly supports liberal causes, clearly supporting gay marriage, abortion rights, and persistently opposing virtually all policies of the Bush Administration in its war in Iraq.
Judging from its name alone, it's not hard to guess that The Wall Street Journal specializes in reporting financial news. By and large, it is the best in the newspaper business at this type of reporting. Compared with its crosstown rival The New York Times, the editorial and opinion pages shift decisively to the right. The Journal features conservative columnists like Peggy Noonan and features guest columns from Conservatives such as Karl Rove. The Journal's editorial page primarily focuses on economic issues, such as tax reform and reducing federal government spending, usually taking a conservative stance.
Lastly, The Economist is a weekly news magazine that is published in the UK. It tends to comment on the large political issue of the week, as well as focusing on issues around the world that go relatively unnoticed. Being a foreign newspaper, the magazine takes a moderate, but oftentimes unique, stance on politics around the world. Fiscally, it can be considered conservative. It favors free trade around the world and tax reform for the United States. At the same time, the paper tends to be liberal/libertarian on social issues.
I really like this post for this week. These papers show how the media can be biased at times and how our viewpoints are greatly influenced by the source we pick for our news. I believe you really showed how these new sources differ in how they deliver the news and how they influence opinion. Well done.
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me how the same news story can be broken up into several different opinion-based articles. And therefore, I think what you are doing (reading all these different newspapers and creating your own opinion) is the ideal way to look at politics. I really enjoyed this post and I liked how you broke down all the stances of each newspaper because it helped show exacley HOW MUCH they all differ from one another and once again stressed the importance of reading more than one source before forming an opinion.
ReplyDeleteI must say that though I have not looked into all of these different newspapers because I'm not really a newspaper type of person, I have looked read the New York Times. Your description was very accurate because unlike others like the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times is a very diverse type of paper. It shares many different types of stories that many different types of people can enjoy, thus my interest in it.
ReplyDeleteI like reading newspapers when they are accessible. In other words, I will not go out of my way to buy or look for one if it is not in front of me. I always find it intruiging that each newspaper tells the same story differently. But I think this is done strategically. Each newspaper company hires reporters/writers that can not only tell the story, but also sell the story. And as we all know, there are tons of different methods of selling things effectively.
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