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Bias in Political Media Bias is defined as prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group in a way considered to be unfair. Meet the Press is a weekly American news program known to be very non-bias. But with David Gregory, being his 5th consecutive year as moderator, I found that Gregory demonstrated bias during the Sunday episode of Meet the Press. The top stories this episode were the “Obamacare Rollout” and “Sticker Shock”. The Obamacare Rollout discusses how the public is upset with the federal government mainly because of the turn out of the Obamacare website.
Sticker Shock deals with 100,000’s of people receiving notices that their health plans are being canceled due to Obamacare guidelines when Obama said no such thing would happen. The first top story was about the Obamacare Rollout. When Obamacare became available to the public on October 1st, the website upset many people when over 700,000 applications were filed and no one knows how many people are actually enrolled. Republicans and even Democrats are urging for change. David Gregory invited democratic governor Steven Beshear of Kentucky, and epublican governor John Kasich to talk about their health exchanges.
Governor Beshear has set up his own health exchange for Kentucky, while governor Kasich declined to do so and the federal government has stepped in to done so. Gregory choosing a democrat and a republican with opposite healthcare exchanges is a very good example of a limited biased situation. The host starts off asking Kasich if he was as frustrated as the public on how Obamacare has started, then he asked the same question to Beshear. Kasich starts to bash Obamacare, completely not answering Gregorys question.
Beshear starts talking about Kentuckys health exchanges, but wrapped up saying that Obamacare will work out eventually and that the public needs to take a deep breath. That statement kind of confused me because if Beshear actually believed in Obamacare, why would have make his own health exchanges? It sounded contradicting in my opinion. On the other hand, republican Kasich starts complaining again about how Obamacare isn’t controlling healthcare costs, but yet he still declined setting up his own health exchanges.
If he really knew how to control ealth care cost, why didn’t he make his own health care exchanges? That was another contradicting aspect of this interview. Overall, the bias was pretty limited. Gregory talked in the same tone throughout, and treated the guests the same. The second top story was the question of sticker shock. When Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, he often repeated “If you like your insurance plan you will keep it. No one will be able to take that away from you. It hasn’t happened yet. It won’t happen in the future. Gregory says that may not be the case because 100,000’s f people are now receiving notices that their health plans are being canceled due to Obamacare guidelines. The main example used in this story was one of the oldest and largest health care plan providers, Florida Blue. Florida Blue is confirmed to be cutting 300,000 policies. The host invited Patrick Geraghty, chairman and CEO of Florida Blue, to discuss the issue. In the interview, Gregory starts by asking why Geragnty Is cutting people Trom tnelr Insurance. PatrlcK replies wlt n Me’re not cutting people, we’re actually transitioning people.
What we’ve been doing is nforming folks that their plan doesn’t meet the test of the essential health benefits; therefore they have a choice of many options that we make available through the exchange. And, in fact, with subsidy, many people will be getting better plans at a lesser cost. So this really is a transition. ” Gregory seems to disagree, and shows it when he then states “So if I’ve got health insurance that I now like, you’re writing to me and saying, “Look, I’ve got to give more comprehensive coverage under this plan. As a result, you’ve got to go find something else.
You’re going to pay more, chances re, but maybe if you qualify for subsidies, you know, you’ll pay less in the end. ” There is still a disruptive aspect. ” After, Gregory and Geraghty seem to go into a back and forth battle. Gregory interrupts Geraghty and asks “Will the people pay more? I am asking will the people pay more. ” Patrick dodges the question multiple times, and mentions that he expected bumps in the White House rollout of Obamacare. Gregory asks “Did you warn the White House that they could face a rough rollout? ” Geraghty dodges the question multiple times, again, which angers Gregory. The host closes with “All right.
I’ll respectfully point out that I didn’t get the answer to the question I was looking for. I do appreciate your time very much today. Thank you. ” As that was only a summary of a 10-15 minute conversation, there was very much bias shown. For one, the host asks many leading questions. For example, the questions “Will the pay more? My question is will the people pay more? ” and “Did you warn the white house that they could face a rough rollout? ” It seemed the host was against the issue which was very present, with his tone and his volume. I liked this episode overall, It didn’t get boring that is for sure.
Suggestions I have for the host is to not let your stance on the issue show through your tone. When the host didn’t agree with the speaker, it became noticeable with the way he was talking and the way he phrased his questions. The bias was controlled most of the time, but Gregory did slip up. My overall take on bias is that it is okay as long as it doesn’t affect the way others view something. I think it is very bad when a host shows bias because it ultimately changes the way the viewer thinks. People need to have their opinion, and not be influenced by others, especially a host on TV.