Wednesday, April 29, 2015

RODHAM FOR JAYHAWKS

Jayhawks know exactly what it means to be a champion.  Holding men’s NCAA basketball records which include: most winning seasons, most regular season conference championships, and most consecutive conference titles, Jayhawks are nothing less than champions.
 


But as we know, champions do not always win every battle. In higher education, the cost of tuition is constantly rising and high school students aren’t able to attend the University of Kansas because they lack financial support.  And even if you get to walk down the hill, you may still be bombarded with loans that are impossible to afford, only to find there are no available jobs.


Women attending the University of Kansas have heard stories about fellow classmates who have been sexually assaulted. In most cases, these assaults go unpunished and women are left with only fear as they walk the streets of Lawrence.


We must not lose sight of who were Jayhawks. We were once champions and soon we will be champions again. The solution? Follow someone who can show you what it means to be a champion again. Vote for Hillary Clinton.

Vote for Hillary because she believes that all students deserve a right to attend the University of Kansas, no matter how much financial support they have.

"Higher education shouldn’t be a privilege for those able to afford it, it should be an opportunity widely available for anybody with the talent, determination and ambition."

Vote for Hillary because like Jayhawks before us, she believes all generations deserve to feel what it’s like to be a champion.

“Higher education is an asset Americans must continue to invest in and protect — not only for future generations, but also for citizens living around the world.”

Vote for Hillary because she will fight for women’s rights and be a voice for women have had their courage stolen from them.

“When women are held back, our country is held back. When women get ahead, everyone gets ahead."

Jayhawks, vote for someone who can show you what it means to be a champion again. Vote for Hillary Clinton.

Everyday Americans need a champion. And I want to be that champion.”

If you are interested in working for Hillary’s campaign, use your email and zip code and sign up at the Hillary For America website.


Thursday, April 23, 2015

RODHAM: PRESS COVERAGE

While researching Hillary for last week’s blog assignment, I quickly realized that it was much easier to find stories about her via Fox News than it was via MSNBC News. Considering that Clinton herself is a more liberal candidate, this finding troubled me. After last week’s class, I asked some of my fellow classmates why this could be. One of my peers notified me that because Clinton is so far ahead in the game, MSNBC wants to be fair and promote other Democratic Candidates. My question for anyone reading this blog would be, do you think that by Fox News covering Hillary frequently in a negative light and MSNBC neglecting to cover her in a positive light that she is at a disadvantage?  This question has been on my brain a lot since last week’s blog assignment and I think I’ve come to terms with the fact that no matter how Hillary is covered, she will still continue to be a front-runner in the election of 2015.

GOOGLE SEARCH
After searching the name “Hillary Clinton” on Google’s search engine I found a segment titled “In the News.” This segment contained several stories covering the candidate’s finances, competition with Marco Rubio, and rumors of scandals. I will give a brief synopsis of the first three stories listed before analyzing each.

Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation as Russians Pressed for Control of Uranium Company:

A story written by the New York Times was the first to be found during my Google search of former Senator Clinton. The article begins by mentioning works of Vladimir Putin.  Now, I don’t know much about ol’ Vlad, but I know it’s a name that doesn’t quite sing a nice tune in the minds of Americans today. Furthermore, the article mentions Nuclear Energy and Russian’s conquering the world. Soon after mentioning these ideas, Clinton is brought up. The times (2015) report that Hillary and her husband were directly involved with Russians and their usage of Nuclear power. I’ve attached the link below if your heart is yearning to know more.



Marco Rubio emerges as top GOP contender; Hillary Clinton favorables drop in poll--She’s deemed not trustworthy:

This story is pretty much summarized in it’s headline. The Washington Times report that Marc Rubio is on the rise to becoming the top dog in the upcoming election because the American public views Clinton as untrustworthy.



Hillary Clinton is getting bombarded with new financial scandals:

Business Insider reports (2015) allegations that Clinton has been working directly with Russia and even reports on speaking fees tied to her husband Bill Clinton. The article covers the scandals and attempts to predict how these scandals will determine her success in the future.

THE ANALYSIS  

The New York Times, The Washington Times, and Business Insider are all generating these news stories.  We learned in class that the New York Times is believed to be more of a liberal media outlet than most and that the Washington Times is targeted more towards conservative voters. The fact that The New York Times is even reporting on the scandal that the Washington Times is using to call Hillary untrustworthy says a lot about how the press is covering Clinton these days. She may be in big trouble if she cannot overcome these scandals considering that BOTH liberal and conservative media outlets are giving her negative publicity. Also, the claims made in these articles must be dealt with. After reading these articles even I, a loyal follower of Mrs. Clinton has many questions to ask the former senator! As for the Business Insider media outlet, I felt that out of the two, it was the most unbiased. This resource seemed to really state what happened rather than choosing a side. I think that Clinton’s team has much work to do and probably didn’t predict this “Uranium” scandal in their SWOT analysis. It’s back to the drawing board for the HillaryforAmerica campaign!

IN THE FUTURE

This type of coverage isn’t setting Hillary up to be successful in the 2016 campaign. In the future, Hillary needs to address scandals such as this in a proactive manner. The more time she wastes, the more she will continue to lose followers. Obviously she will not be able to address every false allegation made by the press, but she needs to clear her name.



Wednesday, April 15, 2015

RODHAM v. MEDIA BIASES

When comparing media outlets on the basis of liberal and conservative, most would consider Fox News to be more “right” and MSNBC to be more “left.” For this particular blog, I’ve decided to analyze both outlets and their portrayal of 2016 presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton.

CONSERVATIVE MEDIA OUTLET

CLICK HERE FOR FOX NEWS COVERAGE OF "HILLARY CLINTON FOR PRESIDENT"

Bill O’Reilly, American television host, author, syndicated columnist, and Fox News political commentator, did not take it easy on Clinton during his segment. The commentator used Fox as a media outlet to analyze Clinton on a segment called “Talking Points.”

Within the segment, he compares Hillary to President Obama. Soon after creating an image that Clinton is similar to Obama, O’Reilly states that income for working Americans is down slightly from when Obama initially took office. However, this statistic isn’t backed up by any evidence and can be viewed as a form of manipulation to persuade the audience. 

Next, O’Reilly reports that supporters of Hillary will vote for her no matter what and that her record of injustices don’t really matter when it comes to voters. By using this language, he generalizes a large group of people and by doing so, is presenting biased information.

Immediately following his first statement, the Fox News commentator presents a clip from Saturday Night Live. The clip pokes fun at Clinton. After the clip is shown, O’Reilly calls the actress portraying the role of Clinton, Kate McKinnon, “one of the best comedic performers he’s ever seen.” Choosing to display a video from a comedian that portrays Clinton in a negative light to only further prove your own points, satire or not, is a biased tactic.

Finally, the commentator ends his segment by stating that traditional American values are under siege, therefore Clinton has an advantage. This claim is biased because of the word traditional. What may be traditional values to him may be different from the traditional values of others.

LIBERAL MEDIA OUTLET


CLICK HERE FOR MSNBC NEWS COVERAGE OF "HILLARY UNDER ATTACK"


MSNBC’s “Hardball” is a led by an analyst named Chris Matthews. On this episode of Hardball, Matthews displays a segment called “Hillary Under Attack.” 

The name of the segment alone can create an image in the viewer’s head that influences them to see Clinton as a victim. This usage of language is meant to be manipulative. Throughout the episode, graphics and captions are displayed. Amongst the graphics shown, “GOP Steps Up and Attacks Hillary Clinton” is the most prominent. By showing the graphic throughout the segment, MSNBC is hoping to reinforce the idea that Clinton is the victim in the situation of the email scandal.

Also, the analyst talks about how the right wing may think that because of the email scandal, the Clinton’s may think they are above the law. They then back up this point by using Monica Lewinsky as an example. The entire premise of this argument is based on what they think the other side is thinking. This information is completely biased.



When comparing the two media outlets, I have noticed that neither can be fully trusted. While MSNBC tries to paint Hillary as victim, FOX News shows her as the villain who is out to siege traditional American values. From what I know about the potential Presidential Candidate, she wouldn’t want to be viewed as victim and she wouldn’t want to be viewed as a villain. While I understand that most news is biased, it is important to question all of the information being presented.