Do We Need to Fight Over a Vaccine?
As we find ourselves in the midst of a pandemic, we are so lucky to have three vaccines with high levels of efficacy. I am no scientist, but I, for one, will take the vaccine as soon as it’s possibly available to me. What I don't understand is this burgeoning fight over who should take credit for the vaccine. Does anyone really care? Isn't this a waste of our time and brainpower in a year of copious stress and anxiety? Our lives have been tipped upside down, but Fox News host Sean Hannity wants President Biden to thank Former President Trump. Is this another game?
Game Schema Theory finds that journalists focus too much on the game of politics and elections. Instead of informing their audience on the issues at hand in today’s political landscape, they instead broadcast segments that display political wins or losses. This has been an escalating issue within the media. We now have late-night news shows which are much more opinion-based than substantive reporting. Lastly, this is bad for our democracy. We are at one of the most polarized moments in our nation's history, and the cable news channels are not relenting. They continue to play this game with our politics. (Davis)
Sean Hannity and other Fox News hosts have such great content they are talking about how President Biden should thank Donald Trump. (Field) This is an exercise in point-scoring. It does nothing for us. It only strokes the ego of the politically powerful and true partisans. It is a sad tale that our politics has come down to scoring such fruitless points. Right now, we need serious reporting on how we can get through this pandemic as fast as possible. How about reporting on how a vaccine will get into our arms or how doctors and scientists have figured out new therapies to combat the virus. Information like this is much more salient to the public than who won the day’s political battle.
It seems to me that the media would prefer we make hay out of the past. Focus our present on actions we cannot change. It also feels like they are trying to revive a candidacy that millions of people rejected. There is nothing to gain from this reporting apart from pot-stirring and ad dollars. The media knows the fight narrative fuels viewers and Nielsen ratings.
These narratives are driven by money. The media is a business — it must be profitable. Their ad-driven business model perpetuates game schema theory and polarizes their viewers further. They could spend money on informing their listeners with in-depth reporting. I don’t know if they can make the leap away from this wreckless content. Viewers are turned off by others' views they dislike, some viewers have strict diets of partisan news. It’s unhealthy for our democracy to consume undebated talking points or to just tune in for the political fights.
Davis, Warren. “Politics and Media Part 2 FA20.” University of Missouri — Columbia. https://missouri.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=db58ee14-f883-4e60-9e24-ac5a011ed894
Field, Jeff. March 12, 2021. “Hannity Urges Biden to ‘Just Thank Donald Trump” for Operation Warp Speed: ‘Not Trump, No Vaccine, Joe’.” https://www.foxnews.com/media/hannity-urges-biden-thank-trump-vaccine-covid
