NOTE: Another CNN and FOX News comparison, please forgive me! But these two sources are America's most popular. In future reference, there will probably be a lot more blogs using these sources as references.
According to allsides.com, Fox News leans to the political right while CNN leans to the left.
The Headlines
Fox News: Fani Willis hearing testimony 'jarring,' 'pure comedy gold,' social media declares
CNN: Takeaways from Fani Willis’ stunning testimony in Georgia
The Story
Whether you are on the right or left side of the aisle, one can admit that former President Donald Trump is fighting a considerable amount of legal cases. But the integrity of Fulton County's case against Trump has come into the spotlight. It has been confirmed that Fani Willis and Nathan Wade ( the District Attorney and prosecutor who brought charges against Trump) were involved in an intimate relationship. Moreover, Willis is Wade's superior and hired him on the case. According to Trump's legal team, that stands as a conflict of interest, and a motion was filed to have Willis removed from the case.
Most conversations have been around Fani Willis's behavior while on the stand. Fox News describes it as " marked with notable hostility... At one point, Willis held up a printed copy of the allegations against her in both hands and turned to the judge yelling, "This is a lie!". (Kornick, 2024). However, CNN describes Willis's behavior as not "like a traditional witness and was more like a prosecutor, arguing with the defense attorneys, raising objections, making legal arguments and even having exchanges with the judge. She even raised her voice at one point."( Cohen et al., 2024).
After recounting Willis's behavior, the Fox and CNN articles took completely different turns. Fox focuses the remainder of the article on social media responses to Willis's testimony. Fox suggests that " As clips emerged on X, some figures mocked Willis’s conduct, considering it disqualifying on its own." (Kornick). The article concludes with various X posts mocking the testimony. CNN provides a deeper take on the testimony itself, offering Willis's responses to questions regarding the timeline of her relationship with Wade and funds used to pay for vacations and other items. This article concludes with the suggestion that "this is a distraction to the case against Trump" by asserting that "Nothing that happened Thursday undercut the factual allegations against Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, or the other GOP allies who are accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election. (Cohen et al., 2024)
The Takeaways
Fox News
- Willis's behavior was belligerent and embarrassing during her testimony
- Social media took notice and many criticised and mocked her behavior
- Her testimony hurts her credibility
- Willis and Wade had an improper relationship
CNN
- Willis defended herself
- Willis and Wade started a relationship after the failure of his marriage
- This trial is an attempt to distract from Trump's indictment
- Trump is also facing trial in NYC
Connection to Class
This week in class we were assigned to read an article by Jill Lepore that provided a brief history of journalism. In Does Journalism Have a Future, it is suggested that the state of current journalism is due to the adaptation of liberal values. For more expansion on the meaning of that, Lepore provides the following statistic "In 1960, nine out of every ten articles in the Times about the Presidential election were descriptive; by 1976, more than half were interpretative"(2019). Could it be that interpretative journalism is to blame for articles like the ones provided above? Or is it more systemic than that and like Norman Chomsky suggests--- a consequence of capitalism.
In my opinion, the state of journalism is not because of the adaption of liberal values and is a consequence of the adaption of greed. What do you guys think?
References:
Kornick, L (2024, February 16). Fani Willis hearing testimony 'jarring,' 'pure comedy gold,' social media declares. Fox News Channel
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/foreign-outlets-pull-no-punches-biden-confusion-rage-surprise-press-conference
Cohen., et al (2024, February 16). Takeaways from Fani Willis’ stunning testimony in Georgia.
CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/15/politics/takeaways-fani-willis-testimony-georgia/index.html
Lepore, J. (2019). Does journalism have a future? The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/28/does-journalism-have-a-future
Image: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-12/trump-judge-orders-hearing-on-fani-willis-affair-with-prosecutor
No comments:
Post a Comment