Clinton Scandal Essay Research Paper The Media free essay sample

Clinton Scandal Essay, Research Paper The Media and Its Role in the Clinton-Lewinsky ScandalWhen the Framers of the Constitution specified freedom of the imperativeness, they envisioned that this would foster and steer the development of a thriving, healthy democracy. They envisioned a democracy that centers on a nucleus set of beliefs: autonomy, equality, self-government, individuality, diverseness, and integrity. These beliefs are portion of today s political civilization. Americans have ever cherished, but at the same clip they have deplored the surplus of the media in the exercising of that freedom.During the recent Clinton-Lewinsky dirt, the imperativeness has both contributed to the wellness of our democracy and it has besides been damaging to our democracy and its establishments. However, the imperativeness has been far more damaging to our democracy than it has been helpful in visible radiation of this dirt. People learn more from telecasting coverage of an event than they learn from any other beginning. However, it takes a great trade of information for the mean individual to absorb a specific issue. Peoples are presented with excessively much information from legion media mercantile establishments. They tend non to catch the narrative until the event continues to do the intelligence for an drawn-out period of clip. Peoples make more informed determinations about an issue when they are presented to them on a regular basis. The intelligence challenges people to believe critically and to organize sentiments based on their apprehension of an issue. Peoples can actively choose and personalise information they get from the intelligence. Persons are presented with many positions so they can do their ain judgements. Peoples construct intending from the intelligence. Information people gain from the intelligence can be incorporated into their mundane lives. They gain a personal frame of mention that allows them to do informed determinations about issues. Most of import of all, the intellig ence allows persons to maintain in contact with society, to happen their ain topographic points in it, and to be to the full cognizant of the universe around them. If people ignore what they hear and see on Television about political figures, people will go stray and unable to organize public sentiment. The intelligence opens whole new locales of information and ways of believing so people can acquire involved in the political procedure. News still matters because it informs us and maintain us abreast of issues impacting our lives and our state. The imperativeness has covered the Clinton-Lewinsky dirt with great item and attempt. There isn T a twenty-four hours on Television when 1 does non hear any new information sing the dirt. The imperativeness is giving what the people want. Our state thrives on sensationalism. Americans like feeding crazes. They thrive on the intelligence. Peoples get pleasure watching the intelligence. It is an mercantile establishment for amusement. American s love to follow interesting play behind large narratives. Clinton s taped expansive jury testimony was a hit for the media. Over 22.5 million viewing audiences tuned in to watch the expansive jury testimony. The populace has been given much information about the Clinton-Lewinsky affair. This overload of information supports people informed of the actions of the president. The populace has every right to cognize what sort of individual is running the state. The United States is a democratic society. Its citizens elected Bill Clinton. They have the capacity through public sentiment to impeach him. If the President of the United States has abused power granted to him by the Constitution, the populace has a right to cognize and the imperativeness has De Benedicts 3 the responsibility to describe it to them. The release of the Starr study and Clinton s taped expansive jury testimony gives the American people the chance to judge for themselves as to whether the president has committed im peachable discourtesies. This allows them to pull sensible decisions about the actions of the president. The American imperativeness thrives on sensationalism. There is neer a dull twenty-four hours with the imperativeness. Once they find a narrative, they can neer allow travel of it particularly if it involves a politician or celebrated histrion or actress. The imperativeness loses its focal point on the of import issues that can impact our lives, non in the short term but long term. The imperativeness has been concentrating on the Clinton dirt excessively much. The imperativeness has failed to inform the populace about the fiscal crisis in China, the possible prostration of Russia, and about ain economic system. The American populace merely gets what the imperativeness gives it. The media is submerging the populace with a inundation of fiddling and nonmeaningful narratives. The media has damaged public duologue by forcing excessively far into the private lives of elective function aries. They have no concern irrupting into people s private lives. The imperativeness has undermined the American presidential term. The Clinton crisis wouldn T have happened in the manner it did but for the intrusive engineerings of the multi-media revolution. There is no flight from prising cameras, tape recordings, picture links, the cyberspace, and electronic mail, which has unleashed a subculture of intimate communicating unknown a decennary ago. This invasion would non be happening if the president were an ordinary citizen. With a few exclusions, the media has done everything possible to air every last ounce of dirt out of Starr probe of Clinton. The imperativeness will delve up all accusals about person s past, whether the studies are merely or unfair. De Benedicts 4 The media has been on a Clinton witch-hunt since twenty-four hours one. The media has limitless power to publish anything it desires. We live in a universe of no privateness. It is a shame that once-reputable med ia organisations have lowered themselves to tabloid-type coverage. Our present twenty-four hours political civilization has widely accepted mores and is flexible in what it says and does. The intelligence media has degenerated into a oasis for interrupting lubricious intelligence. Unless there is a react ion to the way things are going future generations may look back on the Clinton crisis as the last president who enjoyed a reasonable degree of privacy. The institution of the presidency has been diminished because of the press handling of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. Our credibility with other countries has been lost. Trust has been lost with our country and other foreign dignitaries because of this scandal. Other countries are laughing at us. They see a country fixed on sex and nothing else. The United States is a world power and we should be leading by example, instead the media s treatment of the Clinton scandal has undermined our democracy and has caused many rifts among Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Bill Clinton is one of the hardest working presidents ever. He has more than earned his salary. If he needs to grow up so does the media. The effect they have on the image of this country is disastrous. Whatever happened to Walter Cronkite and reputable investigative new s reporting? The media s focus on sex has tarnished the scandal. The media does not focus on the facts. The press is giving our popular culture a lack of information, and misinformation. The media doesn t serve its audience. They pander to them. It picks and De Benedicts 5 chooses material to show the public. The media gives the public what it thinks it wants and will do anything to boost its ratings. Public opinion becomes biased because of what the press presents to it. People are greatly influenced by what they see on TV. By giving people only one side they feel powerless. The public then becomes cynical of the press and in turn they become uninvolved in the political process mainly by not voting. The condition of America is the most compelling news story today. Our political system is in a crisis. We are part of a breakdown of community and are solely living on the premise of individualism partly because of the media. Good journalism requires us to stand up and take a stand and say enough already. We need to have a basic degree of standards to follow. The media is probably the most powerful institution in America. It dictates what people see and read and is the primary source of dialogue in our country. I personally think the entire Clinton-Lewinsky scandal is demoralizing our country and is destroying what the Framers had in mind for a healthy democracy. The president made broadcast history when he was being grilled on national TV about the salacious details of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. The press has taken every single part of the scandal and shredded it to parts. The press has reported all of Clinton s doings with absolutely no sense of fairness and has turned the entire scandal into a witch-hunt. It seems to me that the sex lives of public figures have become legitimate targets of inquiry for the media. These which put America s long tradition of civil liberties to the test. The release of Clinton s videotaped testimony before the Starr gra nd jury and the release of the Starr report provided a remarkable opportunity for the American people to De Benedicts 6 judge whether the president had committed impeachable offenses. However, I believe this was unnecessary. The president did not give us anything new we have not heard already over and over again from media pundits. The media is only presenting one side of the issue. The media rarely reports any of the parts of Clinton s grand jury testimony and the Starr report that exonerates him from any wrongdoing. Why is the media so fixed on this scandal? We need not go back far to see another extraordinary event in the history of the media, the O.J. Simpson trial, to find an answer. Once the press started covering the case, it couldn t get enough of it for over a year. Every day the top news story would be concerning the trial. So the press handling of the Clinton scandal doesn t surprise me at all. It only confirms the press rush to get the story no matter at what cost to the individuals involved. Clinton has been an excellent president. He has reduced the deficit, cut crime, lowered unemployment, balanced the budget, and the lost goes on. Our economy is the strongest in the world. People are happy and content with their lives. However, much more can be done. Social security needs to be saved. Taxes need to be cut. Education needs to be improved. Instead of focusing on the real issues of the nation, we are focusing all of our time and energy on scandal. The American people have had enough of it. It is time to get back to the business of the country. President Clinton recently called Congress a do nothing Congress. I totally agree. So many pressing issues need to be addressed and dialogue needs to be started. However, both Congress and the media have different agendas. It is time for the American people to stand up and say enough is enough. De Benedicts 7 The failures of the press have contributed to the continuous attention on the scandal. Everywhere fr om news radio to late night talk shows, someone has something to say about the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. The press has destroyed the president s image. It is destroying the president s family. Implications of this scandal go far beyond the president. What do you think it is doing to his daughter Chelsea? She hears the jokes and the ridicule about her father. She must be in a terrible psychological state. His wife, Hilary, is being put through torture. What is going through her mind after hearing all of the salacious reports from the media? It is a sad commentary. The president s image will never be restored to where it was before the scandal. The press has destroyed a good man, father, and husband. This can only happen in America, the land of the free and home of the intrusive media.