Weekly Media Assignment #3

Articles: Media Charged With Sexism in Clinton Coverage, By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE and JULIE BOSMAN and Age Becomes the New Race and Gender, By ADAM NAGOURNEY
I chose these two articles as they all summarize the main issues in the primary elections. In fact by changing the main theme of the election from race and gender to age, the articles open new avenues of reflections about the nature of the race. The age of John McCain has really become such an issue in these elections that it overshadows the mainstream of conceptions surrounding the candidacy of a man of color and a woman. In fact, these two articles alone are telling us what people should expect in the general elections. Now that Hillary Clinton is out of the race, there will not be a gender issue in November. The race issue dwells as we have a White and Black candidates. Yet the issue of age will be remarkably decisive because everything is all about change. The American people are looking for change in Washington. John McCain has even started talking about change with a different way than Obama.

Media Charged With Sexism in Clinton Coverage: The articles talks about angry Clinton supporters over the way the media portrayed their candidate during the primary elections. Clinton supporters, mainly women, have suggested the boycott of the media and by creating video on a “Media Hall of Shame”. The main objective of the move is to push Barack Obama to address the issue.

Yet the reaction of media actors is that the Clinton campaign has just highlighted a minute part of the coverage that is more sexist for its main argument. For this reason, said CBS Evening News anchor, Katie Couric, reporters does not feel the need to reconsider their coverage of Hillary Clinton during the primaries. The main argument from the reporters is that the Clinton campaign has seen it as an opportunity to its advantage. Some recognized the sexist turn the coverage has taken mainly in the last day of the primaries.

Age Becomes the New Race and Gender: The article starts with the surge of age as an issue during the primary campaign. Gender and race primarily became the focus of the campaign but age, with senator McCain’s 72 years has gradually taken over the important issues of race and gender. On the one hand we have an old McCain, on the other end, Barack Obama with his 47 years adds to the contrast between the two remaining candidates.

Each of the articles deals with a particular issue related to the election. The first article is interested in how the media has used a sexist approach to cover Hillary Clinton. This article is more about the role of the media in politics with the presence of a female candidate. The second article features the appearance of a third element in the race, i.e. age. The article suggest that race and gender issues have primarily appeared to be the main elements of the election but another third important element has emerged in the debate. Both articles are actually real opportunities for the reader to better understand the main issues of this race.

Race and gender are strongly present in the article. Yet gender has been more covered. The first article is all about gender. It talks about how the media have relied on a sexist approach to cover Hillary Clinton. The whole article is dedicated to gender issues. In the second article gender and issue have been taken over by the issue of race. It is only at the beginning of the article that the author talks about race and gender by laying the emphasis on how they are being overwhelmed by age.

These two articles are well articulated with supporting elements to address the main issue of this race. I really liked the second article as it brings insight on the issue of age in the primary elections. Most of the articles over the election did not deeply go over the issue of age. This very important in the sense that it will allow the public to embrace several approaches that would help determine the better candidate for this country in a critical period. There is also a need to recognize that the media have sometimes given Hillary a hard time even if it was not obviously intentional. The race and gender was framed using clichés. Everything revolves around the first woman and the black running for president of the Unites States. These are two categories that have been playing second roles in politics and then came 2008. Race will definitely play an important role in the upcoming elections. In fact, the role of race will be twofold. There will be those citizens who always dreamt of that day to see a black president in the United. Those are the same as those who do not want to miss this historic opportunity to see this country go beyond the issue of race by helping elect Barack Obama. In this situation it will not just about seeing black people voting for Obama but everybody including other races. In fact with black people only Obama cannot win. The second role of race in the election is to show how America will behave in race issues. There will be certainly a lot of people whose vote will be definitely determined by race.

Overall, these elections have so far shown that this country is under favorable circumstances to settle the issues of race and gender that have for years marked the evolution of this country. The world is watching the United States making an important turning point that will influence many future generations not only in this country but in the whole universe.