The Dangers of One-Sided Politics
By Trudie Cross
Growing up, I watched television news with my dad pretty much every day. We watched Indian news, Pakistani news, and American news. We sometimes read newspapers together. My dad would always point out the different ways each news channel reported on politicians.
Fast-forward to today where about 2/3rds of American Adults consume news content through Social Media, news reporting has changed dramatically in terms of communication style. My dad has always been skeptical about consuming news through social media. He thinks that social media allows reporting to be very one-sided, especially since politicians can communicate about policies straight to your phone.
Taking the example of America, the communication style of news reporting has changed from being academic to a more narrative style because of social media platforms. This change has allowed news reporting to be informal and subjective.
Subjective news is one-sided and only acknowledges one side of the debate. This is very common, especially when politicians discuss policy through social media.
We can see this happening through the Instagram profiles of politicians like Kamala Harris.
I am a little biased towards her since she is a Woman of Color running to be the first female president of the United States (10 year old me is screaming as the glass ceiling shatters).
She has been very active on Social Media, which she uses to talk about several policies and issues that affect people of color. One such policy is ‘decriminalising marijuana’.
Although legalising marijuana would prevent minor-crime arrests, there are multiple drawbacks to this policy which she hasn’t addressed.
For Example, in Colorado, the number of people testing positive for marijuana in fatal crashes has risen each year from 47 (2013) to 115 (2016). Moreover, there are similar health risks associated with inhaling marijuana as there are with inhaling cigarette smoke. While cigarette smokers inhale more smoke, marijuana smokers hold it longer in their lungs.
All the possible impacts of such policies need to be addressed. Addressing all sides would allow us to be informed and acknowledge all the victims of legalising marijuana.
Another popular example can be Bernie Sanders.
He has made sweeping claims about canceling all student debt. This sounds like a great idea for graduates who are struggling to pay off their student loan. However, the highest-earning quarter of the population holds more than a third of all student debt, while the lowest-earning quarter holds 12 percent of the student debt.
This reform would, therefore, benefit some of the highest earners in the economy.
Canceling student debt would therefore primarily benefit those who already have a stable income.
Moreover, subjective policies pit supporters of different parties against each other, leaving space for partisan politics. Rather than discussing policies from an objective point of view, we tend to support subjective sources or those who appeal to our deep-seated values.
Some of the issues discussed above are no-doubt complex. The solutions offered by politicians are simple and leave no space for discussion. The key takeaway from this is that news reporting has changed, making it narrative and subjective. Only then would we be truly informed citizens!
