The Pardon of Sheriff Arpaio:
Understanding the Impact of the Media on People’s Views
The media in the United States plays an important factor in shaping people’s views on controversial issues such as immigration, police brutality, race relations, among numerous other issues that unfold daily. The power the media has can feed the emotional and political climate of the country, fueling the flames of hatred or calming the fear and anxiety of a country’s people. In this essay, I will examine how the media has impacted the public’s view on the pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio through a close look at two hosts from diverging media outlets-Sean Hannity from Fox News and Rachel Maddow from MSNBC. I will compare and contrast how they present their views …show more content…
Hannity spoke of the Trump pardon with high regard and blamed liberals for politicizing the pardon. Hannity claimed that there was a “massive double standard” and democrats “feign moral outrage” participating in what Hannity referred to as “pardon hypocrisy” (Fox News Insider, 2017). Hannity furthered declared the criminal contempt charge was an abuse of power by the judiciary branch of government, and because Arpaio was in law enforcement for 55 years and deserved to not be convicted of a crime because of this. Hannity also blamed the “fake” new media for trying to destroy Arpaio’s reputation (Fox News Insider, …show more content…
For the purpose of this paper, I will focus on the issue of how the pardon of Arpaio could violate equal justice under the law. In particular, how this could disintegrate the foundation of democracy, trickling down to an erosion of the trust between citizens and the very people who are supposed to protect them, the police and the courts. Essentially, with the pardon, the president is consenting to racial profiling. The pardon is symbolic in these terms. This social problem hurts people of color, documented, and undocumented immigrants as it incites
Understanding the Impact of the Media on People’s Views
The media in the United States plays an important factor in shaping people’s views on controversial issues such as immigration, police brutality, race relations, among numerous other issues that unfold daily. The power the media has can feed the emotional and political climate of the country, fueling the flames of hatred or calming the fear and anxiety of a country’s people. In this essay, I will examine how the media has impacted the public’s view on the pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio through a close look at two hosts from diverging media outlets-Sean Hannity from Fox News and Rachel Maddow from MSNBC. I will compare and contrast how they present their views …show more content…
Hannity spoke of the Trump pardon with high regard and blamed liberals for politicizing the pardon. Hannity claimed that there was a “massive double standard” and democrats “feign moral outrage” participating in what Hannity referred to as “pardon hypocrisy” (Fox News Insider, 2017). Hannity furthered declared the criminal contempt charge was an abuse of power by the judiciary branch of government, and because Arpaio was in law enforcement for 55 years and deserved to not be convicted of a crime because of this. Hannity also blamed the “fake” new media for trying to destroy Arpaio’s reputation (Fox News Insider, …show more content…
For the purpose of this paper, I will focus on the issue of how the pardon of Arpaio could violate equal justice under the law. In particular, how this could disintegrate the foundation of democracy, trickling down to an erosion of the trust between citizens and the very people who are supposed to protect them, the police and the courts. Essentially, with the pardon, the president is consenting to racial profiling. The pardon is symbolic in these terms. This social problem hurts people of color, documented, and undocumented immigrants as it incites