“Obamacare” or “The Affordable Care Act” The Media's Misrepresentations

“Obamacare” or “The Affordable Care Act” The Media's Misrepresentations内容摘要：

“Obamacare” or “The Affordable Care Act” The Media's Misrepresentations David Menzies Pennsylvania State University, Undergraduate Portfolio Department of English Summer 2014 Abstract: In late October of 2009, an innovative system of healthcare was introduced by the Obama administration. “However, it was met with such opposition, that Republicans referred to The Affordable Health Care Act derogatorily as ‘Obamacare’” (Menzies 2). Since then, The Obama administration has attempted to own this term in order to undermine those still using the term derogatorily. “The Obama administration is simply attempting to institute a new form health insurance that would make such insurance more readily available to consumers. However, Mitt Romney proposed an eerily similar healthcare plan that was met with praise just months earlier” (Menzies 2). These two men are both associated with specific political parties. These associations absolutely affected the manner in which these news events were covered by the media. “A content analysis of Democracy Now!, Fox News Live, and The New York Times proves that these actions were driven purely by political influence and led to the biased coverage of The Affordable Health Care Act” (Menzies 2). Key Words: framing/agenda-setting/The Affordable Health Care Act/Obamacare/Socialism/ This project will mainly consist of the news media's misrepresentation of The Affordable Care Act. The misrepresentation of The Affordable Care Act, or 'Obamacare,' caused the important issues of 'Who does this help?' and 'Is it beneficial?' out of the spotlight. Aside from some brief general background, I will not delve too deeply into what The Affordable Care Act consists of or covers. My concern is more with how The Affordable Care Act was portrayed in the mass media. This research project is relevant because it is an important issue that concerns everyone that lives in our country, including me. 'Obamacare' has peaked the interest of many since the first time they heard/learned anything about it. Before The Affordable Care Act, there were millions of Americans living without health insurance in America, so it is imperative that this research paper address why the mass media misrepresented something that could be so widely beneficial for such a large number of people. 'Obamacare' is a term attributed to Barack Obama's new healthcare plan, The Affordable Health Care Act. “The term 'Obamacare is a derogatory, offensive, and polarizing term, and it's shameful that some use it” (Gordon, 2012, p.8). The term 'Obamacare' was first used by Republicans to undermine Obama's new healthcare plan. However, Democrats later embraced this term by referring to The Affordable Care Act by the same name. This led to 'Obamacare' no longer being used exclusively in a derogatory manner. The Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2012 and provided universal and affordable health care for all Americans. However, during this year, many news media broadcasts and publications began broadcasting and publishing derogatory statements about The Affordable Care Act. The term Obamacare was originally used a slur in reference to The Affordable Care Act. It wasn't until later on that Barack Obama began using this term in an effort to reduce its offensiveness. The irresponsible and biased perspective the news media reported on The Affordable Care Act with spawned an entire nation of individuals, that are uncertain or uninformed on the subject, that do not agree over the fact that this is a helpful piece of legislation. The frame through which this news story was reported on dealt with The Affordable Care Act being a liberal piece of legislation, instead of whether or not it would be helpful, or even constitutional. There is a clear statistical relationship between extended press coverage and the public's level of knowledge about that coverage (Iyengar, 1996, p. 62). “In other words. . .the majority of news coverage on 'Obamacare' was reported on in a negative way. Considering the relationship between press coverage and public knowledge, this led me to believe that citizens leaned toward being unsupportive of this new health care because of the negative manner in which it was covered by the media” (Menzies 5). Berger discussed the effect frames had on the manner in which news was reported during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. “...Media frames helped normalize a criminalization process amid a widespread information vacuum that celebrated jail