Media Failure in the Government Shutdown

As the government shutdown enters its second week, it remains unclear how much longer it will continue.

The media has covered the event extensively, but many outlets are not accurately addressing the issues at play. Newspapers like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, along with news outlets such as MSNBC and CNN, claim that the crisis is due to “partisanship,” “congressional gridlock,” legislative “impasse,” or any other number of terms that skirt around what actually caused this crisis. These terms are not only fundamentally inaccurate, but they are also insidious labels that will have dramatic consequences in the next election cycle, and perhaps beyond that.

The media is taking the path of least resistance, trying to remain objective in their coverage of the shutdown; what they are really doing, however, is obfuscating the truth. The shutdown is the result of an explicitly wrong political act on the part of a small minority, and it is not a multi-sided issue that requires both sides’ arguments to be considered equal.

Take, for example, the reason why the government is shut down in the first place — both chambers of Congress have not passed a single budget for the next fiscal year. Speaker Boehner has stated that he will not even consider the Senatorial budget until certain “requirements” (essentially a ransom list) are met, which includes: delaying the implementation of the AFA for a year, Medicare spending decreases, EPA budget cuts, Tort Reform, authorization of the Keystone pipeline (and the list goes on… a full list can be seen here). President Obama stated that many of these reforms wont take place until House Republicans agree to raise taxes on the wealthiest income earners, to which John Boehner said to the New York Times “we’re not raising taxes.”

Refusing to even consider a budget — who knows if one would even pass if it was considered — sending out a list of demands, and then blaming Obama for the shutdown for refusing to compromise is an egregious abuse of power, and that is the objective truth. There is no precedent for the government being shut down over petty ideological disagreements over a single law — which was passed three years ago and upheld by the Supreme Court and essentially passed a referendum vote in the 2012 election!

Putting aside the issues over who is at fault, which I think is very clear at this point, the media has a certain responsibility to hold these politicians accountable for their actions. By not addressing the incorrigible behavior of the Speaker and other senior Republicans over the past few weeks, they are fundamentally failing this country.

Without honest reporting, it is difficult to have an informed electorate; without an informed electorate, it is impossible to have a functioning democracy.