The two articles I chose to read about related to Donald Trump’s tax problems. I felt as if Donald Trump would be an easy topic to write about since there has been so many different biases revolving around him in general. The first article I read is called “House Republicans stake out a privacy defense of Trump’s tax returns.” It began with the House Republicans stating the wrong-doings of finding out private information pertaining to Donald Trump. They considered it as a “waste of time” and “weaponizing the law to target a political foe.” The republicans tried to also include how it would create further problems with other political leaders. They stated how everyone has a right to privacy no matter what position you hold in the government. Privacy had an enormous relation to tax evasion in this article. Other republicans such as Illinois Republican Rep. Darin LaHood stated how it was “a waste of time and energy and resources” to reveal any information regarding Trump’s taxes.
However, the democrats responded by stating how it has been an important decision by presidents that have lasted as long as four decades to reveal their tac information after former president Nixon’s tax scandal. Richard Neal, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee stated that he would try to get President Trump to reveal the information using the IRS code 6103. The debate went back and forth as the Republicans ended with the argument that the IRS should not be used as a political tool since that has severe repercussions just like what happened with Nixon.
The second article I read also related to President Trump’s tax record, but it also directly compared it to Nixon’s tax scandal when he was president. The article titled, “Trump’s tax returns draw comparison to Nixon’s forgotten tax scandal”. Here, they immediately compared Trump to Nixon as they try to get their hands on Trump’s tax information. Democratic Rep. John Lewis, ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee reminded everyone listening of a time where they were in a similar situation as we are in now. John Lewis talked about how Nixon stated he was not a crook, however, it was revealed that he owed almost $480,000 in tax and interest. This resulted with questions about a presidents right about revealing information such as their taxes and if a person in that position should pay the full amount of taxes that they owe regardless of who they are.
Both these articles discussed about Trump’s tax problems and included former President Nixon’s event but in two different way. One gave the point of view of both the Republicans and Democrats while stating numerous arguments from both sides. The topic of Nixon was briefly stated but was not elaborated on as it should have been. While the second article displayed a video about Democratic Rep, John Lewis discussing about an event that occurred four decades ago and directly comparing it to the situation they are in now. The first article was more informative than the first and gave a better perspective on what the situation actually was rather than comparing it to an event that was tragic in the United States’ history.
Brook Gladstone’s article on “The Influencing Machine” does show severe biases on news reporters and journalists. It mainly comes from trying to get their reader’s attention as well as trying to sway public opinion. They have the power to do that with their misleading articles and misleading photos and videos that they show on the news. They also include their own opinion or do not show the other side’s argument in a heated debate. There is a lot of bias on the new but the public have yet to see that. News reporters and journalists have concerned themselves with trying to get the best news to the public in the most wrongful way. I felt like Gladstone, perfectly displayed what our current media is like nowadays.
I agree with Neil Postman’s view of the news and media especially when it comes to television. They must find different ways to catch the audiences attention and trying to appeal to everyone is extremely difficult. This leads to the news displaying images and videos that do not cover the full story. According to Postman, the news would rather display a burning ship rather than a ship on its on in the middle of the ocean. In the viewer’s eye, the burning ship is more interesting than the ship at sea itself. Due to this, the news cannot fully explain the background story of where or what the ship as it would not appeal to everyone watching at the moment. They do not concern themselves with the story itself, rather they concern themselves with the images and videos that would capture our attention.
The blue feed red feed project shows liberal and conservatives attacking each other nonstop. Either at specific people such as representatives and higher power, or at the laws and actions done by one side or group. They began most of their headlines with one group enacting an attack on something they believe in and how it would harm the country. Or they began with person’s action harming society as a whole.
https://globalnews.ca/video/4936427/trumps-tax-returns-draw-comparison-to-nixons-forgotten-tax-scandal
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/07/politics/trump-tax-returns-hearing-congress-house-ways-and-means/index.html
Hello Steven, it is interesting to think how a long time ago, a Democratic President like Richard Nixon was under attack for the same reason the Democratic party is going after Donald Trump. Now we can agree that tax evasion is a pretty serious crime and the ones at fault should be persecuted, but just like how Gladstone has mentioned; the media is very selective on what they cover and post. When the problem is a Democratic issue then the democratic owned media sources don’t cover it and the politicians would try to perform damage control. This goes vice versa as shown by the opinions of Rep. Darin LaHood “a waste of time and energy and resources” and the ” “blow off” nature of Republican new outlets. In my opinion, the two parties are two sides of the same outdated and manipulative coin.
Hey Steve. I think you picked an excellent example demonstrating just how strongly political and party bias can affect newspaper articles. This is obviously due to the extreme polarization when it comes to the perception of Donald Trump. It really shows how people’s standards change depending on the person being discussed
Hey Steve, I think you summarized the red feed blue feed pretty accurately: conservatives and liberals constantly attacking each other and imposing their beliefs in stories that may not be directly related. I find it interesting how both sides always seem to instill fear into their readers by repeatedly mention the danger our country is in.