The United States of America is at a historic crossroads as it might see a second presidential impeachment in just over two decades. For the sake of perspective, there have only been two presidential impeachments since the advent of the USA! The current move to impeachment stems from a whistleblower report about a phone call that President Donald Trump made to the Ukrainian president. It is alleged that the president sought an investigation against leading Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden. The issue has also created a division in the media. Through its article, Pappas (2019) conservative media houses such as Fox News reports the matter in a manner that is openly favorable to President Trump. Conversely, through its article Cohen et al., (2019), liberal-leaning media house CNN reports the issue in a manner as damaging to the president as possible. The two media houses are, to their credit sticking to the facts of the issue but they seem to go out of their way to establish a perspective that favors their respective political leanings .
The primary importance of the Ukraine call whistleblower issue lies in its ability to exacerbate the political division in US politics, more so through the presidential impeachment. It is common knowledge that US politics is divided mainly between conservatives led by the GOP and liberal led by the Democrats (Younge, 2019). The 2016 presidential elections worsened the division as the Democratic Party candidate won the popular vote while the GOP candidate won the College vote, thus becoming the 45 th president of the USA. From a legislative perspective, the Democrats have a majority in the House of Representatives while the Democrats have a majority in the Senate. With the next presidential election coming late 2020, political tension in the nation is palpable (Younge, 2019). It is imperative for all opinion leaders to try to mitigate the tension. However, as reflected herein, news-based media houses seem to be kindling the flames instead.
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The two media houses, Fox News and CNN have endeavored to be factual about their reporting, despite differences in perspective. A careful evaluation of Pappas (2019) reflects the factual narrative about the Ukraine phone calls issue based on currently available information. It clearly states that the US president did indeed make a phone call to the Ukraine president in which he discussed investigating Joe Biden. The CNN article Cohen et al., (2019) a lot presents the same narrative about the phone call and its contents. Both media houses are thus generally honest.
However, the two respective writers have framed their articles in order to create two opposing impressions on their readers. The article Pappas (2019) emphasizes the honesty and forthrightness in the presidency, by its act of releasing a transcript of the Ukraine phone call. The article also stresses the fact that the US president does not in any way blackmail or put pressure on the Ukrainian president. As stated in the article “… the call transcript does not show Trump mentioning the aid as a bargaining chip or otherwise… ” The CNN article Cohen et al., (2019) takes the exact opposite perspective by arguing that the transcript reflects President Trump pushing the Ukrainian President to investigate Joe Biden. As expressly stated in the article, “ President Donald Trump repeatedly pushed for Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden… ” It is evident that each author seeks to push a specific narrative about the subject matter.
It is evident from the above that despite being honest in their reporting, the two media houses take different perspectives in their reporting. On the one hand, the conservative-leaning Fox News is clearly leaning towards defending the conservative president. On the other, the liberal-leaning CNN takes a perspective that directly attacks the president and makes a case for his accusers. Due to the factual honesty of the two conflicting articles, it may not be fair to accuse the two authors of misconduct. The most plausible explanation for their difference in perspective would be pecuniary in nature. Both Fox News and CNN are private companies out to make a profit. Perhaps they just write the stories the manner that will appeal to their respective audiences. However, their actions add to the political acrimony in the nation.
References
Cohen, Z., Polantz, K., Brown, P., Perez, E., & Shortell, D. (2019, September 25). Trump pushed Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, transcript shows. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/25/politics/donald-trump-ukraine-transcript/index.html
Pappas, A. (2019, September 25). Ukraine call transcript shows Trump sought Biden probe, asked about DNC server – but made no mention of US aid. Retrieved from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ukraine-call-transcript-shows-trump-sought-biden-probe-but-made-no-mention-of-us-aid
Younge, G. (2019, September 4). The American left's 2020 mission: defeat Trump – and change the world. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/04/american-left-2020-trump-elections-sanders
