Same Story Presented Differently 12/2/17

        

        While reading about the newly proposed tax plan, you can get different vibes from the exact same story. Different news outlets use language to present their story view of the news. By way of example, I reviewed stories by Huffington Post and Fox News about the Republican (GOP) tax bill.
       The Huffington Post's audience is primarily progressive (leaning to the left of the political spectrum). Therefore, when presenting the new tax plan, they will use language to appeal to liberals. Right off the bat, in their title, "Here Are 6 Of The Most Radical Provisions In The GOP Tax Bill," I noticed the way that they used phrasing. Through the use of the term "radical provisions", connotations pop up into my head and create an image of concern. A more neutral title would have been "Here Are 6 Of The Provisions In The GOP Tax Legislation," however "radical" has a built up negative connotation, attacking the tax plan, which is appealing to their audience. The article is formatted into sections, each with their own titles. The language here is designed to have strong effects on readers. Titles such as "Encouraging corporations to automate-without any help for displaced workers," "Rejecting a proposal to expand a tax credit for families with children in order to reduce the corporate tax rate even more," and "All but eliminating the estate tax for the country's wealthiest households" are phrased to raise concern and fears about the effects of the legislation.
        In contrast to the Huffington Post, Fox News's audience is primarily conservative (leaning to the right of the political spectrum). Because of this, they're going to phrase their description and interpretation of the tax plan proposed by Trump in a good way, with words that have positive connotations. Similar to the Huffington Post's article, Fox News uses language in their title, "Senate passes tax reform bill: Here's how it affects you." Instead of just saying tax bill, they add in "reform," which has a positive connotation that the legislation improves existing law. In the very first paragraph of the article, it mentions that the passage of the tax plan puts the Trump White House "a big step closer to its major legislative victory-and many Americans closer to a tax cut." Phrases such as "major legislative victory" and "tax cut" have positive connotations to them, which in readers' minds associates Trump's tax plan with good things such as victory. Furthermore, when the article is describing the ways the plan will "affect me," they only go over things such as tax deductions, and make readers feel like they're actually going to benefit off of this proposed bill.
        Language has a huge effect on readers whether it's consciously or subconsciously. Many people do not realize the impact that the words used by the media have on them. It can distort reality and detract from the truth.