Written Work

Silence at Scott Stadium

What it is like at UVA football games without the fourth side.

By: Meryl Carlton

October 18, 2020

This year is different. Instead of waiting in line for hours before the game starts to get a spot in the front row of the student section on gameday, I am pulling into the West lot of the stadium that only has about 10 other cars at the moment. The RMC volunteer asks to see my mobile ticket that is reserved for guests of the players and coaches. I have one, as I am lucky enough to know someone on the team. I park where I am directed, at least a spot away on both sides from any other car. It is a spot someone would have paid a lot of money for a year ago. We are told we cannot loiter outside the stadium. Once you exit your car, there are cops on segways to usher you inside the gates.

There is no line for security. Entering through metal detectors with your clear bag checked, you proceed to the kiosk where you scan your mobile ticket. You do not pass many people entering, because no one is allowed to stand around. There are two concession stands open, with two or three workers at each, and their selection is limited. You can still get popcorn and Bojangles’ chicken tenders, but there is nobody behind the counter frying up burgers and hot dogs like usual. When you pass through the section entrance and the field comes into view, the stands around you are empty. There are cushioned stadium seats in groups of twos or fives spread out in the bleachers and you find one to sit in, socially distant from everyone else. If you are sitting on an actual bleacher, a stadium employee will ask you to move. If your mask is not covering your mouth and nose, a stadium employee will ask you to put it all the way on. Most people have had their masks customized for UVA, and a lot of players’ families have put their names and jersey numbers on them. You are allowed to remove them if you are eating or drinking.

“This is just really sad,” one parent says as they enter into the stadium for the first time since the COVID-19 restrictions have been set in place.

You can hear the players interacting with each other, the other spectators’ conversations, and the coaches yelling at the players after a bad play. When you are cheering, everyone around you can hear exactly what you are saying, which might cause you to be more cognizant of what comes out of your mouth, or deter you from cheering at all. When the stadium is filled with tens of thousands of people, you do not have that self-consciousness. This is what it is like to attend a football game at Scott Stadium in 2020.

On July 29, the Atlantic Coast Conference announced their 2020 plan for the football season, over four months after UVA President Jim Ryan sent an email announcing the University would be moving online until further notice. After months of uncertainty, while school stayed online and sports were on an indefinite hiatus, the ACC announced that all seven fall sports, including football, would play their seasons, beginning in September. But as those seasons began, they were far from ‘normal’.

Due to health and safety considerations, UVA Athletics limited stadium occupancy to 1,000 people, only allowing families of players and coaches to attend. While many hoped Scott Stadium would open to more spectators over time, they watched other ACC schools like Clemson admit just under 20,000 fans, while UVA held firm at 1,000. Without the fourth side-- a term the team came up with for the band, cheerleaders, dance team, student section, and all of the fans--the games felt lackluster, quiet, and strange.

On game days the energy inside Scott was dreary in comparison to all the years before, with an audio recording of cheers coming from the scoreboard’s speakers and the less than 1,000 people in the stadium trying, but failing, to fill it with noise.

In years prior, Scott Stadium was a rowdy, raucous Saturday afternoon gathering. The marching band performed before games, making shapes with their bodies that left the audience perplexed at their ability to play an instrument and move into formations at the same time. The grassy hill was packed with students who would slide through the mud when it was raining and rush onto the field after big wins. Fans would travel from as far as Hawaii and South Africa to cheer on the Cavaliers, packing the stadium with tens of thousands of voices.

Students and fans alike were devastated they were forced to cheer the Cavaliers on through a television screen only. It was particularly hard for fourth year students who would not get the opportunity to huddle up with their friends one last time in the student section to keep warm during those winter games, when the sun had gone down and the temperature dropped. They would not be able to stand in line again for free pizza and T-shirts before kickoff. Some experiences are hard to replicate, and home football games for college seniors is one.

Along with students, the fans were also upset they could not cheer on their team. 11-year-old Jackson Maschal (pictured on the right) is an avid UVA Sports fan. He anticipates football season: live games, family time, cheering for the Hoos. He loves the energy on grounds on game day, and he hopes to one day attend UVA and play for the basketball team.

“I miss the feeling of being there with all of the excitement… you just don’t get that watching it on TV,” Maschal said.

For kids like Maschal, the inability to attend games means missing important experiences like cheering amidst the thousands of fans on a fall Saturday in Charlottesville. At games, Maschal gets to watch his favorite players, like Wayne Taulapapa, live and in action on the field. That kind of excitement cannot be mimicked anywhere else, and that excitement through the eyes of a child is limited by time.

Without the students and fans there to help energize the team, it seemed as if the sadness of the COVID-19 situation was starting to affect how the team was playing. After winning their home season-opener against Duke, the Cavaliers lost the next four consecutive games.

“We miss the support [of fans] and so we're really focusing on the fourth side, which is our own players, because we know there's another fourth side supporting from afar, but we're really trying to help that become our advantage as well,” UVA Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall said.

Mendenhall also commented on the atmosphere in Scott Stadium when the team returned to home after an upsetting defeat to Clemson in Death Valley, saying, “When I walked in, it was like whoa. Wow, this doesn't feel like, I can't say it doesn't feel like home, but it doesn't feel like Scott stadium normally does--There’s this energy and there’s this chemistry that almost overtakes you,” Mendenhall said.

With no plans to start introducing fans back into Scott Stadium, the team had to look to themselves to create the energy once filled by 61,000 people. Staring at a 1-4 record, the Cavaliers realized they were the difference-makers here, and that their attitude had a heavy affect on their performance.

While the team had to make sudden adjustments to such radical changes this season, the players and coaches do not believe the lack of fans was what had a major impact on the team’s performance. Several players even saw a silver lining with a quieter stadium. Junior running back Wayne Taulapapa said in a press conference how the lack of fans allowed the team to more easily hear play calls and cadences.

"Football is football at the end of the day,” Taulapapa said. “What excites me more is my brothers on the sidelines. That fourth side is super important to us when we are on the field, but I wouldn't say it's much of a difference.”

Even though the crowd helps build momentum at the games, it is also important that the players create that energy for themselves. Mendenhall has bragged about the competitive spirit and resilience of his team this season, and how their beliefs in themselves and their abilities is something that inspires him in the wake of such a strange season.

In October, coming off of their fourth consecutive loss, the team re-entered Scott Stadium for their third home game that season, but this time they were used to the less noisy atmosphere and were ready to create their own energy as they faced the UNC Tarheels.

This game felt different. There were still the usual 1,000 family members and friends in the stands, but the energy was stronger than it had been the first two home games. When the players entered the stadium, it was clear that something had changed within them. They were feeding off of each other on the sideline, dancing and hyping each other up. The crowd had also seemed to have made some adjustments from previous games, letting their guards down to cheer on their team no matter the fact that people could hear them clearly. It was as if all of the superficial things that people thought were important to football were gone, and now the team was just playing the game out of the pure enjoyment of it.

With less than three minutes left in the final quarter of the game, the Cavaliers were clinging to a 44-41 lead. On the second down, UVA quarterback Brennan Armstrong was running through a hole when one of UNC’s defensive linemen fell on the outside of his knee with his entire bodyweight. The stadium fell completely silent. The fake cheering through the audio system ceased. Everyone watched nervously as the quarterback, who had just returned from concussion protocol suffered the weekend before, was lying on the field, motionless.

From the fifth row of the stadium, a fan could hear one of the medics on the field yell, “He’s fine”, before trainers stood him up and helped Armstrong limp off the field. The audience clapped for him, but the energy in the stadium had diminished.

Virginia's Keytaon Thompson, who earlier had rushed for a one-yard touchdown, replaced Armstrong at quarterback on the third down. The Cavaliers were unable to get the first down on the next play. The clock was ticking; Mendenhall had to decide what play to call, as the Cavaliers were fourth-and-three from the 42-yard line. UVA kicker Nash Griffin walked onto the field as the few UVA fans in the stands bickered about whether or not the ball should be punted.

“He has to punt it” one fan yelled to his son, “We can’t give them the ball on the 42-yard line”.

“No, we have to go for it here, I think we should fake the punt,” the son responded.

The ball was snapped to Thompson, who ran to the left when the play was designed for him to go right. He broke through a pair of tackles, diving for the first down. The stadium erupted into cheers, and the boy looked at his dad. “I told you they were going to fake the punt,” the son said. The dad laughed in disbelief. After a hand-off and two knees taken by backup quarterback Lindell Stone, the clock had run down and the game was over. The Cavaliers had broken their four-game losing streak on their home field.

The team had proven to themselves that at the end of the day, the most important thing about football is the love of the game and the strength of their own relationship. When they changed their attitude towards the differences the pandemic brought their season, they were able to finally make a breakthrough. While the Cavaliers had to adjust to limited fans, new protocol, and a new head quarterback this season, they have possibly found something within themselves that they would not have found otherwise. The familial aspect of the team is something important to Mendenhall’s football program and it has clearly been strengthened this season. To the Cavaliers, this football family comes first, last, and always.

President Trump and The Press

By: Meryl Carlton

April 5, 2019

The press reports on everything the president does publicly and allows citizens to form their own opinions on things, acting as a watchdog for the American people. This role the press plays is essential to democracy, as they keep the public informed and call out the government when they are dishonest. A perfect example of the press doing this is with the Watergate scandal under President Richard Nixon. Nixon and his administration tried to cover up their involvement in the break-in at the Democratic National Committee, which revealed they abused their power in multiple ways and had deceived Americans to win the re-election[1]. Two reporters at the Washington Post were the first to break the story, and after the public was aware of the scandal, Nixon was impeached from office[2]. This is recognized as one of the first examples where the press uncovered a major story where government officials had abused their power and hid something major from citizens2. Since Watergate, the press has done its job to reveal a multitude of scandals in the American government, exposing officials, discussing obstruction of justice, and delivering the truth[3]. There are still journalists who are devoted to telling the truth and exposing injustices. Truthful journalism is out there, and it is the job of the people to go out there and find it. Those who accuse all press of being deceitful are at fault for not seeking the honest journalism that does exist.

Facebook is the platform that should be taking the blame for undermining our democracy in America. It fails to monitor political advertisements closely, and in turn causes people to believe false narratives about what is happening in the government. In Anti-Social Media, Siva Vaidhyanathan says that after the reveal of speculation of Russian intervention in the 2016 election, it is clear “that Facebook has contributed to-and profited from-the erosion of democratic practice and norms in the United States and elsewhere,”[4]. Facebook profits off of deceit, yet no one is calling it the enemy of the people. The press is not the source that posts clickbait articles your conservative uncle shares on Facebook. That is not journalism. If a person chooses to believe an article from an illegitimate news source with no credible citations attached, it is their fault for being ignorant. The blame cannot be put on the real press. In an Intelligencer article about Facebook and Google degrading our democracy, author Eric Levitz writes, “they have (collectively) conspired to suppress wages for workers in their sector; violated their users’ privacy rights; abetted censorship in authoritarian nations; contributed to genocide in Myanmar; and aggressively avoided paying taxes to the government,”[5]. Honest journalists are having to take the blame for something these giant techs have caused. Why are people willing to boycott a fundamental aspect to our democracy, but unwilling to give up their precious social media site? It is a problem with the people, not the press. Republicans are the ones who mainly stand behind Trump when he calls the media the enemy of the people[6]. Maybe they are less hesitant to make Facebook the enemy because its deceit helped Trump win the election, and they only call out lies when it does not support their political agenda.

To support the argument of the press being too overly critical of President Trump, there are many news outlets that do not have a single nice thing to say about the president. This is because their ratings have increased with anti-Trump commentary. CNN’s Anderson Cooper is known for constantly calling out Trump on his lies, and in a recent news segment, he provided facts to debunk a list of lies Trump had told in the past 24 hours[7]. As someone who watches CNN most mornings, I have never heard any of their main reporters deliver a story that sheds Trump in a positive light. There are press outlets who exaggerate when criticizing Trump, and it makes sense that the president would be upset about that. However, to call all press the enemy of the people is way too serious of a claim. There is plenty of blame to go around on both sides, and as long as there are honest news outlets, which there are, the press is accurately performing its role. Regardless, there are serious concerns with the spread of false information, and it is something that is prevalent in today’s media. In Post-Truth, author Lee McIntyre says, “if the Spanish-American War was started by fake news, is it so outrageous that another war could be too?”[8]. The spreading of false information needs to stop. The press is supposed to keep the government in check, but who is keeping the press in check? Be cautious where your news is coming from, and fact check things. The truth is available if you seek it.

The press is not too overly critical of President Trump, because there is plenty of pro-Trump media coverage out there. Trump is not the first president to have a negative relationship with the media, and he will not be the last[9]. Our second president, John Adams, literally made it illegal for the press to publish anything negative about the government5. Nevertheless, if you are looking for pro-Trump commentary, it is not hard to find. U.S. News calls Trump, “the most successful first-year president ever,”[10]. Even the Washington Post, who Trump has accused of being fake news[11], has an article titled “The Ten Best Things Trump Has Done in 2018” [12]. There are plenty of news outlets who love him, and who profit off of delivering pro-Trump commentary. There is always going to be the existence of partisan news sources who do not tell both sides of the story. The important thing is that the other side is still being told by another news source. Until you only hear one opinion through all news sources, the press will not be failing the American people.

If all press is deemed untrustworthy by the American people, our democracy will turn to tyranny. It is like the issue of police brutality. It is a real thing in this country and something needs to be done to stop it, but police play an essential role in America and the country would break into chaos without them. You cannot categorize all police as the enemy of the people due to the actions of some of them. In the same way, there are obviously media outlets who abuse their role and are more concerned with chasing ratings than delivering the truth. These outlets have led to the distrust of all media by many Americans, who have the right to be upset about this deceit, but also have to recognize that not all media is distrustful. There is a difference between the press lying, and the press saying something you do not agree with due to your political orientation. Without the press, the state of this country would quickly collapse into turmoil. These systems were put in place for a reason and that reason is that the country needs them. I believe some media has strayed away from their core values, but that they are still essential to our democracy. President Trump has started a war against the press, convincing the public that media is untrustworthy as an attempt to get away with not owning up to his own words and lies. If Trump is successful in convincing the American people that all press is not to be trusted, he will not have a watchdog to keep him in check and will be able to rule tyrannically. The press is the voice of the people.

Works Cited

Bolluyt, Jess. “These Are the Presidents Who Hated the Media (and How Donald Trump Compares).” The Cheat Sheet, The Cheat Sheet, 3 June 2018, www.cheatsheet.com/culture/presidents-who-hated-the-media-and-how-donald-trump-compares.html/?a=viewall.

Collette, Matt. “3Qs: How Watergate Changed Journalism - and the Nation.” News Northeastern 3Qs How Watergate Changed Journalism and the Nation Comments, News@Northeastern, 3 June 2012, news.northeastern.edu/2012/06/13/watergate-burgard/.

History.com Editors. “Watergate Scandal.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 29 Oct. 2009, www.history.com/topics/1970s/watergate.

Levitz, Eric. “When Facebook 'Disrupts' Journalism, It Degrades Our Democracy.” Intelligencer, Intelligencer, 29 Mar. 2018, nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/03/when-facebook-disrupts-journalism-it-degrades-democracy.html.

Mair, Liz. “The Trump Presidency: A Success Story.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 21 Dec. 2017, www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2017-12-21/donald-trump-is-the-most-successful-first-year-president-of-all-time.

McIntyre, Lee C. Post-Truth. The MIT Press, 2018.

Sullivan, Margaret. “Trump and the Watergate Effect.” Columbia Journalism Review, Columbia Journalism Review, 2017, www.cjr.org/special_report/trump-watergate-russia-washington-post.php.

The Daily Beast. “Poll: More Than Half of GOP Voters Believe Media Is the 'Enemy of the People'.” The Daily Beast, The Daily Beast Company, 27 Apr. 2018, www.thedailybeast.com/poll-more-than-half-of-gop-voters-believe-media-is-the-enemy-of-the-people.

Thiessen, Marc A. “The 10 Best Things Trump Has Done in 2018.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 31 Dec. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-10-best-things-trump-has-done-in-2018/2018/12/31/a2de64b6-0d1b-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_story.html?utm_term=.5d74b00fa79c.

Vaidhyanathan, Siva. Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy. Oxford University Press, 2018.

[1] History.com Editors. “Watergate Scandal.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 29 Oct. 2009, www.history.com/topics/1970s/watergate.

[2] Collette, Matt. “3Qs: How Watergate Changed Journalism - and the Nation.” News Northeastern 3Qs How Watergate Changed Journalism and the Nation Comments, News@Northeastern, 3 June 2012, news.northeastern.edu/2012/06/13/watergate-burgard/.

[3] Sullivan, Margaret. “Trump and the Watergate Effect.” Columbia Journalism Review, Columbia Journalism Review, 2017, www.cjr.org/special_report/trump-watergate-russia-washington-post.php.

[4] Vaidhyanathan, Siva. Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy. Oxford University Press, 2018.

[5] Levitz, Eric. “When Facebook 'Disrupts' Journalism, It Degrades Our Democracy.” Intelligencer, Intelligencer, 29 Mar. 2018, nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/03/when-facebook-disrupts-journalism-it-degrades-democracy.html.

[6] The Daily Beast. “Poll: More Than Half of GOP Voters Believe Media Is the 'Enemy of the People'.” The Daily Beast, The Daily Beast Company, 27 Apr. 2018, www.thedailybeast.com/poll-more-than-half-of-gop-voters-believe-media-is-the-enemy-of-the-people.

[7] https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/04/03/president-trump-tax-returns-request-anderson-cooper-kth-ac360-vpx.cnn

[8] McIntyre, Lee C. Post-Truth. The MIT Press, 2018.

[9] Bolluyt, Jess. “These Are the Presidents Who Hated the Media (and How Donald Trump Compares).” The Cheat Sheet, The Cheat Sheet, 3 June 2018, www.cheatsheet.com/culture/presidents-who-hated-the-media-and-how-donald-trump-compares.html/?a=viewall.

[10] Mair, Liz. “The Trump Presidency: A Success Story.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 21 Dec. 2017, www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2017-12-21/donald-trump-is-the-most-successful-first-year-president-of-all-time.

[11]https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/880015261004435456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E880015261004435456&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fpolitics%2Fla-pol-updates-everything-president-trump-tweets-fake-1498812965-htmlstory.html

[12] Thiessen, Marc A. “The 10 Best Things Trump Has Done in 2018.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 31 Dec. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-10-best-things-trump-has-done-in-2018/2018/12/31/a2de64b6-0d1b-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_story.html?utm_term=.5d74b00fa79c.

No. 5 Virginia Takes a Tough Fall to No. 2 Pitt in Overtime

By: Meryl Carlton

October 18, 2020

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA-- No. 5 Virginia got off to a slow start on Sunday night during their match against No. 2 ranked Pittsburgh but came back in the second half to tie the game and force overtime. Ultimately, though, it wasn’t enough, as UVA fell to the Panthers, 3-2, after Arturo Ordonez scored for Pittsburgh in the third minute of overtime inside Klockner Stadium.

The Cavaliers started off the season well with a 2-1 win against Louisville, making it their seventh-straight season opening win. This past Wednesday, they traveled to Virginia Tech, finishing the game tied 1-1.

The loss for Virginia was tough, as after losing to Georgetown in the 2019 National Championship, they lost a number of key players to professional leagues and graduation. The Cavaliers also struggled with the loss of senior Nathaniel Crofts due to injury in the game against Louisville. Crofts started in 22 of the 23 games of the 2019 season and was responsible for 15 points last year, making him the third-highest scorer on the team.

The 2020 Cavaliers are young; 19 of the 30 players are underclassmen. UVA head Coach George Gelnovatch is proud of how his team has played so far this season, and applauds the younger guys on their performance.

“(There are) a lot of young guys for us on the field and Nick (Berghold), one of the youngest guys, scoring for the tying goal is really, really positive, and so for me moving forward, other than the sour taste of the loss in the mouth, we’ll build on this,” Gelnovatch said.

Three minutes into the game Pittsburgh sophomore Valentin Noel scored his first goal after Virginia goalie Colin Shutler dove to save the first attempt and was not back on his feet fast enough to save the second attempt.

Virginia’s Joan Gibert Fuertes took a long shot in the eighth minute of the game, but Pittsburgh goalie Nico Campuzano saved it with a dive to the right. After another scoring attempt by the UVA sophomore Philip Norton, Noel scored his second goal of the match, marking the scoreboard 2-0 with 17 minutes remaining in the first half.

Shutler was ready for Noel’s next short-range shot attempt, saving the ball for the second time in the first half. But the Cavaliers were unable to score before halftime.

In the second half, Virginia outshot the Panthers, but Campuzano was ready at the goal. In the 66^th minute, Horton assisted to UVA freshman Kaya Ignacio for his first career goal and the UVA’s first score of the game.

“I thought the whole second half we had them under pressure. We’re progressively getting better. I’m able to try a few different things with some young guys. Kaya (Ignacio) and Nick (Berghold) are a perfect example, Isaiah (Byrd) is another example,” Gelnovatch said.

In the 90^th minute, UVA redshirt freshman Nick Berghold—who sat out the 2019 season due to injury--scored his first career goal to tie the game, 2-2.

“I saw that the guy was closing in and I thought he was going to lunge in so I kind of thought if I cut him side he might draw a pen(alty), cut back inside again and just hoped for the best and, yeah, it went in,” Berghold said.

Horton raced down the field with the ball in the final minute of regulation, attempting a long-range goal that flew too high above the goal. The Cavaliers and Panthers then headed into overtime.

In the third minute of overtime, Pitt sophomore Arturo Ordonez shot the ball past Shutler to score the game-winning goal, and give Pittsburgh the 3-2 victory.

“I actually feel like we were the better team tonight and we were playing with a lot of young guys… I’m taking a lot of positives away,” Gelnovatch said.

Ignacio and Berghold both scored their first career goals, and the Hoos saw a lot of younger guys on the team show a lot of potential.

“I just feel like we work, the past two games have been overtimes so it shows that no matter what we are going to keep going,” Berghold said. “We keep working, and I think just the belief we have we can just work on that, so I’m glad for the boys.”

The Cavaliers have demonstrated their depth of talent in the first three season games in this pandemic-shortened season. UVA heads to Notre Dame on October 24^th to face the Fighting Irish.

How Partisan Cable News is Failing the Public

By: Meryl Carlton

March 5, 2019

Partisan cable news is failing the public because it is more concerned with making money than accurately informing its viewers. According to Lee McIntyre, author of Post Truth, the truth is irrelevant, as “objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief”.[1] If you sit down and watch a broadcast from either MSNBC or Fox News, you will find commentary either extremely anti-Trump or extremely pro-Trump, with stories stolen from hard-working newspapers. Rather than deciding on what their audience should hear, they give them what they want to hear, chasing ratings to bring in the big bucks and beat out their competitors.

If you choose to get your news solely from one of these sources, you will be manipulated into believing one side over the other, and it will affect the light in which you view the president. Viewers that only watch MSNBC broadcasts will develop bias against Trump, as much of their airtime is taken up with critiques of the American president.[2] Aside from downplaying the positive things Trump has done for the economy by saying that his “boasts are increasingly divorced from reality”,[3] MSNBC spent the past two years hyping up the collusion allegations against Trump, only for no indictments to be made against him with the release of the Mueller Report.[4] MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow ended up losing half a million viewers after the Mueller Report was released, as her audience was frustrated and disappointed that they had wasted so much time talking about something that turned into nothing.4 On the other hand, viewers of Fox News would start to see the president in a positive light, buying into the falsehoods that Fox routinely promotes.[5] Fox has always been partisan, but under Trump’s presidency it has been accused as being an “outright propaganda campaign”,5 following the president’s lead calling other news companies the enemy of the people as well as letting their audience dictate what they cover rather than covering what is important or what the truth is.5 Partisan cable news, along with all news, used to be trustworthy and keep the government in check.[6] Now, “cable news outlets are increasingly characterized by distinct political perspectives, adding ideological talk show hosts to their evening programming and eradicating opposing viewpoints,” says Lauren Feldman in her academic journal article titled Partisan Differences in Opinionated News Perceptions.[7] These partisan cable news networks are the reason behind the large divide between political parties in the United States.6 The American people put too much trust into these news companies, and need to obtain their news from numerous sources in order to avoid this bias that is so evident in the media today.

MSNBC is devoted to delivering liberal and often Anti-Trump commentary because it is what makes them the most. Rachel Maddow grew her audience by building up the allegations of collusion against Trump and instilling a sense of anger and distrust towards him in her viewers.4 When she realized that her audience was growing with her anti-Trump commentary, that’s what her whole show turned into.4 In lecture, Professor Andrews argues that MSNBC “exaggerates and attempts to persuade, but not manipulate,”[8] but our news should not be attempted to persuade anyone. It should be delivering the facts, acting as a watchdog to those in government, and serving the American people the way it was originally intended to do. In fact, reporters for MSNBC have been caught spreading false narratives just as reporters for Fox have, just not as frequently as Fox has.[9] For example, back in 2013, Maddow made a claim that a change to a bill in Ohio called for a transvaginal ultrasound in the case of an abortion. This claim pushed Maddow’s liberal agenda, as an advocate for pro-choice. In reality, the bill called only for external detection methods, very different from Maddow’s claims.9

Fox news takes it too far by misleading its audience and pushing a pro-Trump and pro-white agenda. CNN’s Brian Stelter tweeted that the, “composition of the Fox News audience, 2018-to-date, total day (is) 94% White, 3% Hispanic, 2% Asian, 1% Black”.[10] Their audience is mainly old, white, straight men, so that is who they cater their news reporting to. In 2017, Fox News host Tucker Carlson reported on a Washington Post article about an incident in a Maryland high school, where posters reading “It’s Okay to Be White” were hung.[11] During the newscast, Carlson claims that leftists are responsible for sowing the racial divide in America, claiming that anti-white racism is a real thing. If this were a newscast that had a large viewership demographic of non-white people, Carlson would not have felt safe making this statement, as he would lose viewers because of it. However, since Carlson knows that 94% of his audience is white, and the other 6% is still likely to agree with him on issues regarding race, he felt comfortable making this claim. In fact, the majority of old, Republican, white men want to hear white grievances, so that is what Fox News gives them.[12] They want to hear anything that will make them look like they are playing the victim to liberals, that they make seem like the enemy.12 It is dangerous for them to demonize democrats the way they do in their newscasts, because they are making their audience angry with these stories tainted with false information and sometimes flat out lies. This just creates even more of a divide in America, not only between liberals and conservatives, but also between minority races and white people.12 In 2016 Fox reporter Ann Coulter claimed that South Carolinian governor Nikki Haley was an illegal immigrant, when asked about an issue in South Carolina on the Fox Business show.[13] Records show that Haley was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, and Coulter had no basis to make that claim. This is just one of many examples where Fox reporters tell blatant lies on camera. These lies should not be taken lightly. Fox makes claims with no factual basis, angering people over things that are not even true. This becomes dangerous when the American people decided to respond to these false allegations, which is what happened with Cesar Altieri Sayoc Jr., the infamous mail bomber, who literally tried to kill opposers of Trump.[14]

Both MSNBC and Fox steal stories from newspapers instead of going out into the field to do gold-standard investigative journalism themselves. Early on in this course we put an emphasis on original reporting and how it makes for the best journalism, but the top watched cable news networks mainly do derived reporting. Newspapers are dying due to a lack of revenue, meanwhile these partisan cable news companies are taking the stories that these journalists worked hard on and using them to build their stories. When the articles are referenced during broadcasts, the authors names are not even said, it is just attributed to the newspaper it came from. They do not send reporters out on the field to talk to impacted citizens or deliver news that has not already been reported on. They take the same topics and discuss them for way too long, sometimes speaking in a way that the average American cannot even understand. Partisan cable news companies are at fault for the failing of newspapers as well as dividing this country politically.

The media’s role used to be serving the American people by keeping the government in check. However, now the people must keep the government and the media in check by themselves, as the news can no longer be trusted. In the book, Blur, by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, there are three types of journalism mentioned. The first is verification, which is when journalists fact check what they are reporting on. The second is assertion, where journalists speculate without giving facts, and the third is affirmation, where they just say what the audience wants to hear.[15] According to these definitions, both MSNBC and Fox News report with an affirmative type of journalism, as they both show bias in their reporting in order to please their audience. Since people do not like to hear opinions that differ from their own, it is more pleasant for them to view a new source that takes their same stance on issues, whether or not there is a factual basis behind it.[16] However, what they are doing to make money is working, as according to the Pew Research Center, in 2017 the annual shared revenue of CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News was just short of $5 billion.[17] So even though 61% of Americans think that the news they are consuming is biased[18], and they would be correct, things will not change as long as these companies are still bringing in an increasing amount of revenue each year, as they are right now. As long as they are making money, these partisan cable news networks will continue to fail the public by delivering biased commentary, pushing their own agendas, and deriving their reporting from other sources.

Works Cited

Alicke, Mark. “Why We Hate People Who Disagree.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/why-we-blame/201708/why-we-hate-people-who-disagree.

Andrews, Wyatt. “Lecture 16.” MDST 3680. 25 Feb. 2019.

Associated Press. “MSNBC Gets a Powerful Boost: Anti-Trump Sentiment.” South China

Morning Post, South China Morning Post Publishers, 20 July 2018, www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2105852/msnbc-riding-anti-trump-wave-us-cable-network.

Baloria, Jonas HeeseVishal P. “Research: The Rise of Partisan Media Changed How Companies

Make Decisions.” Harvard Business Review, 30 Oct. 2017, hbr.org/2017/10/research-the-rise-of-partisan-media-changed-how-companies-make-decisions.

Benen, Steve. “Trump's Economic Boasts Are Increasingly Divorced from Reality.” MSNBC,

NBCUniversal News Group, 27 July 2018, www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-economic-boasts-are-increasingly-divorced-reality.

Bruzgulis, Anna. “Rachel Maddow Says That Ohio Budget Includes Requirement

for Transvaginal Ultrasound.” Politifact, Poytner Institute, 4 June 2015, www.politifact.com/ohio/statements/2013/jul/09/rachel-maddow/rachel-maddow-says-ohio-budget-includes-requiremen/.

“Chapter 1.” Post-Truth, by Lee McIntyre, The MIT Press, 2017, p. 5.

“Chapter 6 & 7.” Blur, by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, Bloomsbury, 2010, pp.

94–146.

Chavez, Nicole. “Mail Bomb Suspect Cesar Sayoc Pleads Guilty.” CNN, Cable News Network,

21 Mar. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/03/21/us/cesar-sayoc-guilty-plea/index.html.

Don, Bob. “FOX News Tucker Carlson – It’s Okay to Be White Goes

National.” YouTube, YouTube, 3 Nov. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYE_Q9gslVo.

Feldman, Lauren. “Partisan Differences in Opinionated News Perceptions: A Test

of the Hostile Media Effect.” Political Behavior, vol. 33, no. 3, 2011, pp. 407–432. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41488850.

Gomez, Henry J. “Rachel Maddow Says That Ohio Budget Includes Requirement

for Transvaginal Ultrasound.” Politifact, Poytner Institute, 9 July 2013, www.politifact.com/ohio/statements/2013/jul/09/rachel-maddow/rachel-maddow-says-ohio-budget-includes-requiremen/.

Illing, Sean. “How Fox News Evolved into a Propaganda Operation.” Vox, Vox, 22 Mar. 2019,

www.vox.com/2019/3/22/18275835/fox-news-trump-propaganda-tom-rosenstiel.

Marcotte, Amanda. “Fox News Is Turning Brett Kavanaugh into a Symbol of White

Grievance.” Salon, Salon.com, 5 Oct. 2018, www.salon.com/2018/10/05/fox-news-is- turning-brett-kavanaugh-into-a-symbol-of-white-grievance/.

O'Connor, Corrie. “MSNBC's Maddow Loses Half-a-Million Viewers After Release of Mueller

Report.” AM 570 The ANSWER, 1 Apr. 2019, am570theanswer.com/content/national-news/msnbcs-maddow-loses-half-a-million-viewers-after-release-of-mueller-report.

Ralph, Pat, and Eliza Relman. “These Are the Most and Least Biased News Outlets

in the US, According to Americans.” Business Insider, Insider, 2 Sept. 2018, www.businessinsider.com/most-biased-news-outlets-in-america-cnn-fox-nytimes-2018-8.

Stelter, Brian. Twitter, Twitter, 10 Aug. 2018,

twitter.com/brianstelter/status/1027722947732144128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1027722947732144128&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Ffox-news-white-audience-immigration-1067807.

“Trends and Facts on Cable News | State of the News Media.” Cable News Fact Sheet, Pew Research Center, 25 July 2018, www.journalism.org/fact-sheet/cable-news/?utm_source=AdaptiveMailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=17-5-30%2BSONM%2B1%3A%2BNewspaper%2C%2BCable%2BEmail&org=982&lvl=100&ite=1198&lea=255444&ctr=0&par=1&trk=.

[1] “Chapter 1.” Post-Truth, by Lee McIntyre, The MIT Press, 2017, p. 5.

[2] Associated Press. “MSNBC Gets a Powerful Boost: Anti-Trump Sentiment.” South China Morning Post, South China Morning Post Publishers, 20 July 2018, www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2105852/msnbc-riding-anti-trump-wave-us-cable-network.

,

[3] Benen, Steve. “Trump's Economic Boasts Are Increasingly Divorced from Reality.” MSNBC, NBCUniversal News Group, 27 July 2018, www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-economic-boasts-are-increasingly-divorced-reality.

[4] O'Connor, Corrie. “MSNBC's Maddow Loses Half-a-Million Viewers After Release of Mueller Report.” AM 570 The ANSWER, 1 Apr. 2019, am570theanswer.com/content/national-news/msnbcs-maddow-loses-half-a-million-viewers-after-release-of-mueller-report.

[5] Illing, Sean. “How Fox News Evolved into a Propaganda Operation.” Vox, Vox, 22 Mar. 2019, www.vox.com/2019/3/22/18275835/fox-news-trump-propaganda-tom-rosenstiel.

[6] Baloria, Jonas HeeseVishal P. “Research: The Rise of Partisan Media Changed How Companies Make Decisions.” Harvard Business Review, 30 Oct. 2017, hbr.org/2017/10/research-the-rise-of-partisan-media-changed-how-companies-make-decisions.

[7] https://www-jstor-org.proxy01.its.virginia.edu/stable/41488850?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=partisan&searchText=cable&searchText=news&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3Ffc%3Doff%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone%26amp%3Bed%3D%26amp%3Bsd%3D%26amp%3BQuery%3Dpartisan%2Bcable%2Bnews%26amp%3BsearchType%3DfacetSearch%26amp%3Bcty_journal_facet%3Dam91cm5hbA%253D%253D%26amp%3Bwc%3Don&ab_segments=0%2Ftbsub-1%2Frelevance_config_with_tbsub&seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents

[8] Andrews, Wyatt. “Lecture 16.” MDST 3680. 25 Feb. 2019.

[9]

[10]https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/1027722947732144128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1027722947732144128&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Ffox-news-white-audience-immigration-1067807

[11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYE_Q9gslVo

[12] Marcotte, Amanda. “Fox News Is Turning Brett Kavanaugh into a Symbol of White Grievance.” Salon, Salon.com, 5 Oct. 2018, www.salon.com/2018/10/05/fox-news-is-turning-brett-kavanaugh-into-a-symbol-of-white-grievance/.

[13] https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/jun/24/ann-coulter/ann-coulters-pants-fire-claim-sc-gov-nikki-haley-i/

[14] Chavez, Nicole. “Mail Bomb Suspect Cesar Sayoc Pleads Guilty.” CNN, Cable News Network, 21 Mar. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/03/21/us/cesar-sayoc-guilty-plea/index.html.

[15] “Chapter 6 & 7.” Blur, by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, Bloomsbury, 2010, pp. 94–146.

[16] Alicke, Mark. “Why We Hate People Who Disagree.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/why-we-blame/201708/why-we-hate-people-who-disagree.

[17] http://www.journalism.org/fact-sheet/cable-news/?utm_source=AdaptiveMailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=17-5-30%20SONM%201:%20Newspaper,%20Cable%20Email&org=982&lvl=100&ite=1198&lea=255444&ctr=0&par=1&trk=

[18] https://www.businessinsider.com/most-biased-news-outlets-in-america-cnn-fox-nytimes-2018-8

Ideologies in The Handmaid’s Tale

By: Meryl Carlton

November 13, 2018

The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel by Margaret Atwood set in the dystopian society of Gilead, which was formerly a part of the United States. While the book was published in 1985, Hulu produced a show based off of the story, which aired in 2017. In the story, after the over usage of contraception in American society, birth rates started to decrease tremendously. In the attempt to repopulate the world, the government’s solution was to kidnap fertile women and force them into sexual servitude. The fascist men in charge of Gilead twist the words of the bible in order to justify their actions and act as if they are doing good works in the name of the Lord. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood expresses the dominant ideology of the oppression of women throughout history, the negotiated ideology that the bible can easily be misinterpreted by those who want things done their way, and additionally offers the oppositional ideology that contraception is potentially dangerous when it is overused. In this paper, ideology is meant as a system of ideas that forms the way society is shaped and how the people in these societies interpret meaning.

Media is infamous for having portrayed the stereotypical woman time and time again, cleaning the house, cooking, and looking after the children. Only in the last 50 years has there been a shift in this course and women have become more independent and given lead roles. Nonetheless, the oversexualization of women in media as well as the wage gap between actors and actresses shows us that there is still a long way to go on the topic of gender equality in the media. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the oppression of women is magnified. Infertile women serve as submissive wives to the Commanders and fertile women are literal sex slaves. No one speaks against the government, as it is merciless and will publicly lynch anyone who rebels.

While it may seem like something like this could never happen in American society, it’s not so far off from how women are treated in other countries. For example, Afghanistan is the only country in the world with a higher suicide rate for women than for men (Ward). Over 85% of women have admitted to experiencing domestic abuse, most women are illiterate, there are high rates of child brides, and women’s healthcare is nonexistent, resulting in many deaths during childbirth. Widowed women usually end up on the streets and are forced into prostitution just to live (Ward). Atwood’s purpose for this novel was not only to highlight the oppression of women in American society, but in societies all over the world, and she successfully does this. For me, the show created a newfound anger in me and gave me the desire to fight for gender equality. The storyline moved me to tears on a number of occasions, whether they were tears of sadness or anger.

In addition to the dominant ideology of woman oppression, the storyline offers a negotiated ideology of the misinterpretation of the bible. The way the Commanders justify their treatment of women with the old testament of the bible parallels with the views of Islamic extremists. While Islam is a peaceful religion, leaders like Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb twisted the words of the Quran and then taught this incorrect ideology to impressionable youth. They convinced themselves and their followers that God wanted them to rid the world of evil, which translated to abolishing westernization and led to the rise of terrorism. These religious leaders used the Quran as a means of justification, but their interpretation of the text was incorrect. In the same way, the society of Gilead uses the story of Jacob in Genesis. This story says, “And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, give me children, or else I die,” (Genesis 30: 1-3). In this story, Rachel’s servant, Bilhah, was forced to bear Rachel and Jacob’s child. The purpose of this story in the bible does not come until the end, but the government of Gilead takes the beginning quote out of context. At the end of the story, God answers Rachel’s prayers and she is finally able to conceive a child. Additionally, Genesis is a book of the bible in the old testament, which has rules that are no longer valid after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The purpose of the old testament is to show the inherent sin of man and the need for a savior, not to serve as a book of rules to live by.

The misinterpretation of the bible is very evident in society today, as out of context biblical quotes can lead to a lot of confusion among those who do not study the bible closely. The form of media where this misinterpretation is most seen today is on social media, predominantly Facebook and Twitter. Religion is a hot topic in the US, especially in the debate over the separation of church and state. For example, many people argue that there is no non-biblical argument against abortion, and since religion and politics are not supposed to intercede, this argument against abortion is invalid. The bible isn’t just misquoted by non-believers, but a lot of the time by believers themselves. For example, Christians who do not accept homosexuality because it is a sin are failing to follow the part of the bible where you are supposed to love everyone and leave judgement up to God. The bible is meant to be interpreted multiple ways, which inevitably leads to people receiving the wrong message about its teachings on some occasions.

Lastly, the oppositional ideology of The Handmaid’s Tale is that contraception needs to be used more sparingly. This is also a current hot topic in politics with democrats wanting to make it more accessible and affordable. On the other hand, republicans want to make it easier for businesses to deny covering the cost of contraception by insurance due to religious and moral reasons. This is another example of the fuzzy line between the separation of church and state. Contrary to popular belief, according to science, contraception does not have an impact on fertility. While it may take a woman up to a year to return to normal ovulation after long-term use, it is not possible that it would cause women to be permanently infertile (Migeon). This show assumes that the media audience knows this information already, but if someone were to not understand this, their interpretation of the show could become misconstrued.

An opposition ideology is one that can be interpreted from the media text, but was not the author’s intentional meaning. It is possible that someone could watch this show and come to the conclusion that this society is one with a proper solution to the problem of low birth rates. This argument is technically valid because they have found a way to solve the problem of women not being able to procreate by taking the select few that can and making that their sole job in life. While this is a twisted and inhumane way of doing things, it works and solves the issue at hand, even if it raises so many other issues in the process.

In conclusion, while the actual premise of The Handmaid’s Tale would never actually occur, it is not ridiculous to assume that the people in charge of the American government would react to that hypothetical situation in a similar manner. The purpose of the story is to excite within the viewer the desire to change the way things are in our society through the exaggeration of social, economic, and political issues. The most prominent of these is the idea of gender equality and the fight against the inarguable oppression that women have faced since the beginning of time. The show is a wake up call for those who are more ignorant on the topic.

While the storyline of the show is not absurd in comparison to other current television shows, it is very different from what was being shown on TV prior to the 21^st century. It has become a lot more common for TV shows to defy the societal norms and challenge viewers mentally with the incorporation of important societal issues. Other examples of shows that do this are Dear White People, Orange is the New Black, and Sense8. One thing that all of these shows have in common is that they are all produced by online streaming sites like Hulu or Netflix. These companies have more freedom over the content they create because they manage their own rules, while shows aired on television have a lot of government restrictions placed on them, which is an idea that we discussed in lecture.

This book was incredibly ahead of its time, but with the existence of the show bringing the topic to our current attention it encourages us to be the change we wish to see in the world. In an excerpt of Using TV to be a Man, JoEllen Fisherkeller says that we can use young people to, “inform our guidance strategies… we can all work to ‘bring everyone to the table’ and make a difference where necessary,” (Fisherkeller). By bringing these issues to the attention of the younger generation there is hope that this will instill in them the desire to make changes when they become the ones in positions of power.

Word Count: 1,682 words

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. Nan A. Talese, 2019.

“Biblical References in The Handmaid's Tale.” A Research Guide for Students, 20 July 2018, www.aresearchguide.com/handmaids-tale-biblical-references.html.

Fisherkeller, J. (2001). “It’s just like teaching people ‘do the right things’”: Using TV to Become a Good and Powerful Man? In R. Means-Coleman (Ed.), Say it Loud! African American Audiences, Media and Identity (pp. 147-186). London: Garland Publishers/Routledge Press.

Migeon, Gerard. “Does the Pill Cause Infertility? Yes and No.” Natural Womanhood, 19 Mar. 2017, naturalwomanhood.org/pill-cause-infertility-yes-no/.

“The Handmaid's Tale.” Stream TV and Movies Live and Online, www.hulu.com/series/the-handmaids-tale-565d8976-9d26-4e63-866c-40f8a137ce5f.

Ward, Olivia. “Ten Worst Countries for Women.” Thestar.com, Toronto Star, 8 Mar. 2008, www.thestar.com/news/world/2008/03/08/ten_worst_countries_for_women.html.