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News Program Analysis

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In this analysis we shall be looking into how three of mainstream media’s major news stations have been covering the topic of the recent crisis that is occurring on the southern border of the United States of America. We shall be looking at how CNN, MSNBC, and Fox news have all been covering this story by looking at three segments, one for each network and breaking down the subjective or objective nature of the segment. As we look deeper into how each network is covering the topic, the nature of the news may come as somewhat of a surprise. It should come as a surprise to many to observe exactly how much bias in fact exists. Despite this bias, it is where we the people receive our information about the world and what our government is up to. Often people find themselves trusting the information implicitly and not questioning the information they are being fed.
First looking at the most obviously subjective opinions for supposed news anchors, we shall take a sample from MSNBC and one from Fox News. Looking into MSNBC’s show Leaning Forward with Melissa Harris-Perry, it is not surprising to see an instant bias that is covered by rhetoric. MSNBC is infamous for a more Liberal political stance on issues, and this segment was not light on displaying this.
Mrs. Harris-Perry took the opportunity in this segment to essentially attempt to convince the audience that if people do not legalize those who have come into our sovereign nation illegally, that those people are racist. This claim came with nothing to prove the claim of racism. This was accomplished by focusing on only one aspect of the issue at hand, that being the unaccompanied children flooding over. At the same time she completely negates the other details of the story such as the impacts to the communities that are being forced deal with this situation. She condemns the actions of the Republican Governor Rick Perry passively through her inflection in her voice and sarcastic comments, while showing the Democratic Governor of Massachusetts and talking about the charitable acts toward the cause of granting amnesty. This negates the fact that there are Republican politicians who have been attempting to work on immigration reform. The story then spins into comparisons of the civil rights movement, and using rhetorical devices that place the right wing constituency as racist.
Moving on to Fox News, we shall analyze a segment from the show Hannity, whose host [Sean Hannity] is admittedly conservative. In this segment host Sean Hannity is interviewing Governor Perry about his decision to move one thousand U.S. National Guard troops to the border to attempt to curb the influx of immigrants. During this interview, the host would consistently ask the Governor questions that made the president appear to be neglectful, not doing his job and, attempting to disconnect himself from the issue. The focus played more toward the issues that are arising from the crime and financial strain placed in the communities affected. There was often times where the host would go off topic to add additional reasons to think of the president and his administration in a negative light by bringing up the consistent failure of it, while highlighting the accolades of the Governor in light of this crisis in working to divert any further crisis.
On the other side of this, shows such as Hannity are prone to leaving out key points, just as MSNBC does. Instead the attention is shifted to the failures of the current administration. Though the humanitarian aspect was addressed, it was over shadowed in bias against the administration. In doing so, the fact that there is a humanitarian crisis occurring, and regardless of subjectivity in opinion we must find a way to deal with it became a bit lost in the information. Playing the blame game only creates animosity which can (and does) slow the progress toward solutions to