Biden's Age in Question
According to allsides.com, Fox News leans to the political right while CNN leans to the left.
The Headlines
Fox News: Foreign outlets pull no punches over Biden ‘confusion’ and ‘rage’ after surprise press conference. With tag: Australian outlet dubs Biden 'confusion-in-chief.
CNN: Biden tries to lay to rest age concerns, but may have exacerbated them.
The Story
At a recent press conference, President Biden addressed concern over his age and mental ability to perform as president for an additional four years. Regardless of what party you support, Biden's age has been a controversial subject, and rightfully so?
In the aftermath of the confernce, both Fox News and CNN recorded the president's visible anger. However, Fox News centered the article around the investigation of Biden's handling of classified documents while CNN reported that " Special counsel Robert Hur’s report released Thursday on Biden’s handling of classified documents effectively ended the matter. But his assertions that Biden was elderly and forgetful ignited a political firestorm that cut directly to the heart of the president’s chief vulnerability in the 2024 election." ( Collison, 2024). I emphasize "ended the matter" because Fox News reports the opposite, insinuating that the President is getting away with a crime. To that point Fox provides a statement by Rep. Hunt (R-Texas) "Let me get this straight. Biden is too cognitively impaired to be charged with a crime, but he’s not too cognitively impaired to be the Commander-in-Chief?"
On the issue of age and mental capacity, the political divide could not be seen clearer through Fox and CNN reporting of the issue. In sum, Fox News made a point to specify Biden's word blunders during the press conference and even included criticism from the international press. CNN made a point to specify the sensitivity of the age issue. In a lengthy section of the article subtitled " A painful issue", CNN describes age as a challenging issue that many families deal with and criticizes cruel reportings of the issue. Additionally, Trump and Biden are compared as the similarity in age is emphasized.
The Takeaways
Fox News
- Biden's performance at the press confernce proves his age is an issue as he had several blunders
- Biden's age should not get in the way of legal consequences for the mishandling of classified documentation
- International media is mocking Biden's age and cognitive ability.
CNN
- Biden's age was addressed at a press confernce where he confused the name of a President.
- The investigation of the mishandling of classified documents is over.
- The media has been cruel in regards to Biden's age-- age is a sensitive issue.
- Democrats dismiss concerns regarding Biden's age.
Connection to Class
How does this connect to our class? Let's explore the concept of "fragmentation".
In News, the Politics of Illusion by Lance Benett, Benett addresses fragmentation as a form of information bias. He further defines it as the "isolation of stories from each other and from their larger contexts, so that information in the news becomes fragmented and hard to assemble into a big picture." (Citation) With this in mind, it's hard to identify what both the CNN and Fox articles are about as they address many different topics under the umbrella of "Biden's age". Additionally, Bennett emphasizes that fragmentation tends to favor the personal and sensational over context and clarity. Again, this is shown through both articles as they choose to highlight Biden's age over more in-depth matters.
The question must then be posed, could this information bias prevent the media from effectively serving the American people. If I can offer my opinion on the matter, I believe it does. The presence of fragmentation interrupts the interpretation of the event at hand, ultimately distorting the truth.
References:
Colton, E. (2024, February 9). Foreign outlets pull no punches over Biden ‘confusion’ and ‘rage’ after surprise press conference. Fox News Channel
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/foreign-outlets-pull-no-punches-biden-confusion-rage-surprise-press-conference
Collinson, S. (2024, February 9). Biden tries to lay to rest age concerns, but may have exacerbated them. CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/08/politics/biden-age-concerns-analysis/index.html
Lance Bennett, W. (2016). News: The politics of Illusion, tenth edition. University of Chicago Press.
Image: https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-biden/
In my opinion, the bias is always so clear when comparing Fox and CNN. In the blog I publish, I have also been comparing news sources and fragmentation has been the most noticeable form of bias.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, I do believe this bias prevents the media from serving the people to an extent. Journalists are supposed to act as watchdogs, so one could argue that's what they are doing; however, I find Fox's omission of stating that the investigation is over particularly concerning because it misleads the American people.
When it comes to news outlets like Fox or CNN, I expect to see the obvious bias within their reports. The use of fragmentation does prevent them from properly informing citizens. And it is problematic because its this confusion of 'who is telling the truth and who isn't' that causes a lot of issues with Americans.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! For me, personally, I feel like FOX news is grasping at straws with this news because if age was such a factor, why endorse Trump? Both are old! But at least Biden can piece together coherent sentences. Biden is also not known for being a great orator, in fact, when I listen to him, I often feel like I am going to fall asleep. But hey, I would rather have ‘boring Biden’ than megalomaniac Trump, especially since Trump said yesterday that he would invite Russia to invade America. Very worrying. I do think this is a great post in that it brings up ageism. While the Framers made it clear in the Constitution that a potential president would need to be at least 35 years old to hold the title, many people did not live as long back when. It is interesting to reframe this in today’s current times. How old is too old? Especially when we think about elderly people in society accomplishing fantastic things, regardless of their age. For example, an 80-year-old Japanese man successfully completed the climb on Mount Everest, a German grandma holds the Guiness Book of World Records titled for oldest practicing gymnast in the world and an 86-year-old Catholic nun placed first place in the Iron Man challenge! How old is too old? It seems like, never. You are never too old to live life and accomplish remarkable things. I really do not like Trump, but I even grow weary of the legacy news highlighting both his and Biden’s age all the time. It really does not matter. Age not so much, integrity, absolutely!
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting way of analyzing how each side portrays things, and it's really well done too. It's interesting to compare it to my blog, I've been analyzing the ways different leaning news sites report on things. Sometimes analyzing how they report on the same story and other times comparing how they talk about their parties in general, and it's interesting seeing others' perspectives on it.
ReplyDeleteI especially agree with how you've categorized the opinions, a lot of news sites tend to obscure their actual opinions behind layers of fluff but putting it out in a clear diagram really helps.
This is such a good way of analyzing both sides! Biases in both publications are often times pretty obvious. Surprisingly on this issue, I side more with FOX, but I also agree with Sarahs comment above, if age is in question - neither option should be endorsed! This isn't the first time Biden has stumbled over his words, confused things with others, or was plain wrong about something - it is concerning that he is running our country. The president is known for being articulate and well-spoken, I think neither Trump or Biden fit this narrative.
ReplyDeleteI feel like we talk about this a lot in class where the news is only writing what is in the best interest of the news! Just the drastic difference in the two titles says it all! The news channel that has the bias towards the same political affiliation is hyping up the age and the one that is against the political affiliation is tearing down his age. It is all to get a rise out of people and to get them to support their journalism and their beliefs.
ReplyDelete