Mila Kunis’ Donations

NBC 10 is a local station based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is part of NBCUniversal Media, LLC, which is a subsidiary of the Comcast Corporation. When it comes to the accuracy and quality of the publications, NBC remains to be fairly mainstream and good quality.

An article by Eric Hinton titled “Mila Kunis Planned Parenthood Donation’s in VP’s Name Ignites Backlash, Calls to Boycott Jim Beam” discusses how Mila Kunis admitted on ‘Conan’ that she has been donating to Planned Parenthood monthly in Vice President Mike Pence’s name. In response to the comment, there is an entire group of people who are boycotting Jim Beam.

The article gives clear and straightforward facts as to what she said, why this would be seen as a problem and the results. She serves as the national spokesperson for Jim Beam and as a result of her actions many are boycotting the company. The article did not give any other information as to the Vice President’s response.

ABC 10 which is based out of San Diego also did a piece on the subject. Similar to NBC the channel maintains a relatively good quality and mainstream view of the events that occur every day in America. The station is part of the Scripps TV Station Group.

The article titled, “Mila Kunis makes monthly donations to Planned Parenthood in Mike Pence’s name” gives a description of how Mila’s interview on ‘Conan’ went and the order in which it all played out.

The article refrained from giving any opinion at all. Everything the article said can be seen in the clip from the show. There is no extra analysis, nor is there any outside information. The article is nothing more than a condensed version of the already short clip from the show.

Both articles fail to give a ton of information on the topic at all outside of what was said by Mila Kunis on ‘Conan’ and what the reaction is. They fail to mention if Jim Beam or the Vice President have made comments regarding the whole thing. In addition, they do not describe who exactly is backing the boycott of Jim Beam. While they manage to give the facts, they also give nothing but the facts that could be extrapolated from watching the initial interview. There has to be additional information that could be added to the story.

Personally, I think this is very inappropriate for Mila Kunis to do. If someone is opposed to abortion, donating to Planned Parenthood in their name is just disrespectful. There are other ways to peacefully protest one’s opinion and actions. Also, I do not believe that boycotting Jim Beam for their spokesperson’s bad decision is necessary.

Tragedy in Texas

NBC News, which was once its own company, is now owned by the Comcast Corporation. Overall the company tries very hard to keep bias out of their work, and their offices. According to their page on integrity, they say they, “have processes in place to help prevent, detect and resolve instances of potential unethical behavior and noncompliance.”

The article “Texas Church Shooting: More Than Two Dozen Parishioners Killed” gives a very detailed account of the event that transpired at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Twenty-six people were killed, and multiple people were injured. The shooter does not seem to have terrorist connections. The shooting is the largest in Texas history.

Authors of the article were completely unbiased when reporting on the tragedy. Great detail was given on the church, the status of the shooter, and of the investigation. The authors even went so far as to view previous sermons posted on the church’s YouTube channel suggest that the shooting might be on video and aid in authority’s investigation of the shooting.

USA Today says its “mission is to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation.” The news source which was launched in the 80s is now owned by the Gannett Company. When you read the Gannett company’s purpose one word can summarize the whole thing, community. Their goal is to ‘drive action’ through their publications.

USA Today journalist Susan Miller’s article “First Baptist Church pastor’s 14-year-old daughter among dead: A ‘beautiful, special child” focuses mainly on the victims of the attack.

The author gives great insight into the emotions the victim’s families and friends are experiencing right now. There is no bias in the article just facts regarding the victims and their families. She also gives a brief history of church attacks that have occurred in the United States in the past few years also without including any bias regarding the different tragedies.

The two articles present the situation in two completely different ways. The article for NBC News was full of every fact currently available on the investigation into the shooting. In a way, the article, which could be seen as a list of facts, in some ways removes some of the emotion from the situation due to the language being used. The USA Today article, on the other hand, had language that draws upon one’s emotions. Miller also details individual victims and their families making the tragedy more personal to the reader. You get to see who exactly these people were who killed in the shooting.

My heart breaks for all those affected by this horrible tragedy. I pray that they will all receive the healing and strength they need in this time of mourning. I will definitely be watching this story in the days to come to see what more they learn about the shooter and the victims.

Mother Jailed for Refusing Court’s Orders

The Fox News Channel is a major news station relies heavily on the beliefs of the Republican party. The founding CEO was Republican Roger Ailes. Over the years Fox New channel became known as the ultra-Republican news network, sometimes even to the point where they are seen as untrustworthy.

Rebecca Bredow refused to have her son vaccinated as her ex-husband, who is the boy’s father, wished. As a result, she spent five days in jail, lost primary custody, and now has joint custody. In addition, her son was vaccinated.

The Fox News article titled, “Michigan mom who ignored deal to vaccinate son loses primary custody” gives a very brief overview of the whole situation. Whoever the author is, they lay out nearly every fact regarding the situation and refrain from inserting their own opinion regarding the topic, though the language and picture used make cast a negative light on the mother.

ABC news was originally an independent company from the late 1940s after splitting from NBC as NBC and CBS where the two main news agencies at the time.. Today ABC is owned by the Walt Disney Company. While the news network remains unbiased most of the time, there are many instances in which the company presents a more liberal view.

This article gives an in-depth overview of the whole situation regarding Bredow’s refusal to vaccinate her son. It gives some backstory to the origin of the whole feud and the escalation to the mother being thrown in jail.

Catherine Thorbecke wrote “Mother who was jailed for refusing to vaccinate son: I would ‘do it all over again’,” she makes her opinion on the subject very obvious throughout the article. She quotes the American Academy of Pediatrics on the importance of vaccines. This article though points out that the whole ordeal was not about vaccinations, it was about the father’s rights, and the refusal to do court orders.

While Fox new presented a more unbiased article on the issue, ABC gave more details and gave a better idea of why the whole ordeal escalated to the point it did. Such as the mother is remarried with a daughter, and the reason she was thrown in jail was not really over her being against vaccinations it was refusing to carry out the court’s previous orders. The facts are better details and presented in ABC’s article. Though, author of the ABC article uses a lot of quotes from the mother, the attorney’s, and other outside stories.

While I believe that vaccinations can be beneficial, though there are many chemicals and other toxins included in them that are unnecessary and potentially harmful to our bodies. This case though is not really about the vaccinations at all, it is about a custody battle. Rather than working the situation out, it seems as if the ex’s had a battle that went just a little too far.

Fox News Article

ABC News Article

 

Current Event 2

The International Business Times is a “digital global news publication that provides comprehensive coverage and analysis of the most important business, economic, political and technological issues around the world.” The company is owned by Newsweek, one of the original big news sources, which today is known for having a liberal skew to their articles.

Defence contractor guilty of planting ‘logic bomb’ in US Army computer network, the article by IBT Jason Murdock, discusses the recent conviction of Atlanta man who planted ‘malicious code’ on army computers and cost the US 2.6 million dollars.

Murdock uses language that suggests a certain level of respect for the Army and his services it provides United States citizens. The use of the quote from Daniel Andrews furthers the point that these actions are a grave crime and could have crippled a vital US resource. It is also interesting to see that Murdock lays out what the charges could entail regarding punishment.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is an Atlanta based company owned by the Cox Enterprises conglomerate. While no official mission statement can be found on their site, it is the only major newspaper in Atlanta. The paper is known to have a slight liberal skew while trying to incorporate conservative columnists.

The AJC article Atlanta man’s code on Army computer cost taxpayers $2.6M sticks to the facts regarding the situation. Mittesh Das a 48-year-old man from Atlanta worked as a subcontractor on a program for the Army. Before the project was handed to another company he planted a “logic bomb” that temporarily crippled an important computer program.

The author Steve Burns’ take on the incident went more detail about the events regarding the initial situation and appealed to pathos as he used language to express the pain it caused to United States soldiers and their families.

The two articles maintain a relatively mainstream view of the events that took place. While some opinions become obvious in the quotes and language the author choose, the two articles seem to stick to the facts regarding the situation. An example of bias is Murdock’s use of the word sabotage in describing Mittesh Dad, casting a negative light that the AJCs Burns does not seem to do. While the AJC article frames the initial incident better than IBT, the International Business Times actually defines what the consequences could be.

I was completely unaware that this event occurred as it did not make national news and I was thirteen when the initial incident took place. Whatever Mittesh Das’ intent was he made a poor decision. If the program was not noticed it could have done major damage. Our Army exists to protect us. I personally do not understand why anyone would want to purposefully affect the efficiency of our military. What I would love to know is how they were able to trace the bug back to him? Also, did he undergo the full background check? How was he able to plant this ‘malicious code’ without anyone else noticing?

IBT Article

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/defence-contractor-guilty-planting-logic-bomb-us-army-computer-network-1640481

AJC article

http://www.ajc.com/news/crime–law/atlanta-man-code-army-computer-cost-taxpayers/uNgHmTB4RkwvEtdVrWmqRM/

Changes in Immigration

The British Broadcasting Corporation, according to their mission statement, claims to, “to enrich people’s lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain.” After being established in the 1920s in London, BBC has done just that in its daily broadcasts to people around the world, all while staying relatively mainstream. Though, sometimes there is a slight liberal skew to their information.

Daca Dreamers: US scraps young undocumented immigrants scheme, the article by BBC author Anthony Zurcher, presents the facts regarding President Trumps decision to rescind DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), what it is, how it was started, and the effects of the future.

Zurcher seems to paint President Trump and Republicans as the bad guys in this situation. The author’s language suggests that he believes Republicans will not want to reform and safeguard the young immigrants protected by DACA. The article also highlighted several quotes, including some from Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, regarding the decision which were all denouncing the decision.

CBS Corporation according to their website, “is a mass media company that creates and distributes industry-leading content across a variety of platforms to audiences around the world.” CBS maintains a slight liberal skew in all their news stories and uses some negative language when describing the more conservative people it highlights.

Kathryn Watson, in her article for CBS, detailed how the Trump administration is putting the pressure on Congress to reform immigration laws to protect the 800,000 young adults who immigrated to this country.

The article is not slamming President Trump or the decision he made regarding DACA. Watson instead pointed to and supported remarks made by President Trump where he sympathized with those affected by the decision and said this is the best way to have an immigration reform, “through the lawful Democratic process.”The two articles describe the basic parts of DACA and

The two articles describe the basic parts of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and comments made by President Trump regarding the decision. Both of the articles also concede that the issue is now in the hands of the US Congress and it is the Congress’s responsibility now to reform immigration. Though the articles deviate from there. CBS lists only facts and quotes, while BBC seems to use several quotes and rely on them throughout the entirety of the article to describe the issue as well as to cast a negative light on the Trump administration, Republicans, and the recent decision regarding DACA.

I believe this is a step in the right direction. President Trump’s decision applies pressure to Congress to create an acceptable reform to our immigration policies. Though, I am worried for the young adults who are protected under this legislation who in six months, if this is not resolved, will be deported from the country. For some of them, this is the only country they have ever known since they were so little when they immigrated here.

CBS Article

White House defends ending DACA as “responsible” decision

BBC Article

Daca Dreamers: US scraps young undocumented immigrants scheme