Week 1: Assignment and Response to Classmates

ThursdayOct 5 at 6:44pm

Manage Discussion Entry

Abortion is a controversial and political topic which can have added elements, making it even more taboo. On the October 3rd, the online edition of the New York Times wrote that “Representative Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, a strong and frequent critic of abortion, asked a woman with whom he was having an affair to undergo an abortion”according to The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. "Besides calling attention to matters of potential public concern, the media also provide cues about the importance of an issue” (Functions of Mass Media, 2015, p.1.2).

“The scholarship on press-state relations or more broadly on media-politics nexus has evolved in many ways, assessing the impact of the media on public and policymakers remains on the frontlines of academic research” (Trump and the rise of the media, 2017). The New York Times is a reputable newspaper, and anything written within the articles are likely to be taken as truth by its readers. Also, because this issue was brought up, the public might sway their views on not only pro-life but whether or not Representative Murphy shall be a continuing, “member of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus.”

Mr. Murphy claimed that it was only a pregnancy scare alluding to the fact that his statements bore no real impact. There was a substantial amount of evidence, and Murphy did not deny the claims made. He also mentioned that he will be writing his statements from now on and those previously spoken were written by staff, and he was only reading them.

The article was not balanced. Evidence brought forth had a dense stand in one direction.This article had plenty of sourced information, included back and forth texts between Murphy and the woman he was having an affair. The media put a magnifying glass on the matter at hand.

-Mallory Murray

References

Graber, D., Dunaway, J. (2015). Mass Media and American Politics, Ninth Ed. Sage Publications,

Inc:Â Thousand Oaks, California.

Kardaş, T. (2017). Trump and the rise of the media-industrial complex in american politics. Insight

Turkey, 19(3), 93-120. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.25253/99.2017193.08

Stevens, M. (2017, October 03). Anti-Abortion Congressman Asked Woman to Have One, Report

Says. Retrieved October 03, 2017, from https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/10/03/us/politics/tim-murphy-abortion.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FUnited States Politics and Government&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection&referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Ftopic%2Fsubject%2Funited-states-politics-and-governme