Obama vs. Wall Street

I decided to use the issue of Obama's plan to regulate Wall Street for this assignment because it seems to be a pretty huge deal. A lot of people are talking about it and it is stirring up controversy. First of all, for those who may not know, Obama's plan to regulate Wall Street is meant to stop the unfair practices of big corporations and help the small businesses to improve the economy. The sources that I used to get information on this were the required New York Times, USA Today and BBC. I also used CNN and Fox News.

All of these sources except for Fox News gave me an idea of what exactly Obama's plan will do. Fox News was the only one to completely bash Obama and say that what he is doing is wrong for the economy. The New York Times seemed to give a fair report of what is going on and gave direct quotes from Obama such as: "He said the law would crack down on abusive practices in the mortgage industry, simplifying contracts and ending hidden fees and penalties, “so folks know what they’re signing.”" I feel like the New York Times gave a fair coverage of the event. To read the full story, click here.

I think the most balanced of these sources was USA Today. It was the only source other than Fox News to give a Republican stance on this issue. The gave a quote directly from Obama: "Wall Street reform is a key pillar of an overall economic plan we've put in place to dig ourselves out of this recession and build an economy for the long run," and a quote directly from John Boehner, A Republican representative from Ohio who is directly competing with Obama "The fact is that Washington Democrats' policies have created uncertainty that has undermined our economy, shaken the confidence of the nation, and cost millions of American jobs." The article also ended by giving a text version of Obama's radio address on the issue of Wall Street Reform. I felt like this was a good idea because readers were given 2 sides of the story without a bias and then are given the exact words from Obama and can judge the policy themselves instead of being swayed by a conservative or liberal bias. To get the full story, click here.

BBC News seemed to be very strongly on Obama's side. They gave a story of Obama calling what the wall street corporations were doing shameful. They gave a video of Obama criticizing the companies for giving themselves bonuses and asking for bailouts. They said, "He said his administration would tell bankers they needed to show some discipline and restraint." They posted a short video of Obama talking and criticizing these companies. To get the full story and see the video, click here.

CNN News gave an Obama strong side as well. However, another thing they did was outline the reform plan and state what the regulation would do after certain periods of time for example: "Within 3 months: A new council of regulators meets in October and starts figuring out ways to identify firms that are big enough to pose a danger to the financial system." They also did this for 6 month and 9 month intervals and a "down the road" interval to further show what Obama's plan would do. I thought that this was good because it let the reader know what Obama wants to do with his plan and when he wants to do it. Also in the article, a video was posted of a CNN report where the reporter stated that Obama was not getting enough credit for his job on Wall Street reform. This was most likely do to the fact that Obama's approval rating is dropping. For the full story and the video, click here.

Fox News gave a completely different story than the other sources. Fox News gave no direct quotes for Obama and instead just completely criticized Obama's ideas. as I was reading the article, it made me more and more angry to how they twisted Obama's ideas and made it appear as something negative. They gave a complete conservative slant and made the big banks appear as victims even though they were the companies that were committing unlawful practices. It was wierd to see such a different slant on the issue. Even though some of the other new sources appeared to be somewhat liberal, Fox News was so heavily conservative that it was ridiculous. This was not just a slight slant or an opinionated take on the issue, it was an attack. That is something that should not be allowed in journalism. For the full story click here.