Week 3: Student Response and Assignment

ThursdayOct 19 at 10:29pm

Manage Discussion Entry

On October 17 Derrick Watson, a federal judge in Honolulu blocked President Donald Trump's third attempt at largely banning travel to the United States from eight countries (Tribune News Service as printed by The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 2017).

To my surprise, the story was not written by a local reporter. Instead, the story was imported to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser from the Tribune News Service and included a photograph from the Associated Press.

Usually, Hawaii does not receive much national attention beyond that paid to its beaches and sunsets. This level of visibility is consistent with the textbook authors' assertion, "National television normally highlights a small number of states and neglects the rest. Some regions of the country receive more coverage than one might expect from the size of their populations, whereas others receive considerably less. Swing states and states that host early presidential primaries tend to get more coverage because of their role in presidential elections" (Graber & Dunaway, 2015, p. 8.3, para. 4).

The story is of national and local significance. While Trump asserts the ban is necessary to keep Americans safe, critics argue that the president is following through on campaign rhetoric temporarily banning Muslims from entry to the United States (Tribune News Service as printed by The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 2017).

The story ties locally to "a lawsuit filed jointly by the state of Hawaii, a Honolulu-based mosque, its imam and two state residents who have relatives in the affected countries" (Tribune News Service as printed by The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 2017, para. 5).

The reporter detailed several facts of the story including significant dates, affected parties, and opposing viewpoints. Additionally, the article established credibility from a legal standpoint by discussing appeals, and U.S. Attorney General statements before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. The story also described the actions the U.S. Department of State would take following the ban’s rejection by Watson and then a similar ruling by a Maryland-based federal judge (Tribune News Service as printed by The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 2017).

- Joel Seppala

References

Graber, D., Dunaway, J. (2015). Mass Media and American Politics, Ninth Ed. Sage Publications, Inc: Thousand Oaks, California.

Tribune News Service. (2017, October 18). Federal judges in Hawaii, Maryland block Trump's new travel ban. Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Retrieved from http://www.staradvertiser.com/2017/10/18/breaking-news/federal-judges-in-hawaii-maryland-block-trumps-new-travel-ban/