How Ithaca College Media Covered the Election
by Anne Uhle
NewsWatch is a student-run news outlet on Ithaca College Television. Coverage is based out of Ithaca, NY and mainly covers Tompkins County, due to proximity, but also informs the public of top state, national, and international stories.
In this excerpt from an episode that aired September 13 2016, anchor John Earl talks about Donald Trump not filing his tax returns in a story about Hillary Clinton’s pneumonia.
The story’s main focus is that the Clinton campaign was under criticism for not telling the public earlier that she has pneumonia. Earl explains that Clinton defended herself by saying that her campaign is more transparent than Trump’s. Earl mentions the economy when he says “Donald Trump refused to release his tax returns” although it is not clear if he is repeating what Clinton said or if this is additional information.
Ithaca, New York is stereotyped as a “liberal-minded” and therefore more likely to support Clinton. College campuses are also stereotyped as “liberal-minded.” This story enforces that narrative by talking negatively about Trump in a story that is mainly about Clinton.
In another episode, which aired September 15 2016, anchor Jay O’Brien talked about a speech made by Trump at the Economic Club of New York.
O’Brien mentions that Trump talked about his various plans to improve the economy (creating jobs, not raising taxes, preserving Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.) O’ Brien also said that according to Trump, “only a certain type of person could get rich under Hillary Clinton.”
After Trump’s economic plans, the story became about Clinton holding a press conference on an airplane in North Carolina where she talked about how Trump was out of touch with the American people and how America is already strong and great.
The coverage here is even but the stories are unrelated. Trump speaks about the economy while taking a shot at Clinton’s economic plan, while Clinton speaks about how Trump is “out of touch” with the American People.
In another episode, which aired October 18 2016, anchor Cate Douglass talked about the New York Attorney General’s investigation into the Trump Foundation.
Douglass says that the New York Attorney General ordered the Trump Foundation to stop raising money and accused the foundation of failing to register with the Charities Bureau. She also mentions that the New York Attorney General has an ongoing investigation into Trump University.
There is not much analysis of what the investigation means for Donald Trump, his charity, or Trump University. The audience knows that the Trump Foundation has to cease fund raising because the New York Attorney General accused the foundation of not registering with the Charities Bureau, but the purpose of the Trump Foundation is never explained. The Trump Foundation is a charitable organization that raises money for various causes but has also had a history scandal. The other investigation, which is an ongoing investigation into whether or not Trump University was a scam rather than a higher education institute is also never explained in this clip.
In another episode, which aired October 27 2016, anchor Kelli Kyle talked about WikiLeaks and the Clinton Foundation.
Kyle talks about the contents of the email from a former Bill Clinton aid about raising money for the Clinton Foundation and cuts to a clip of Trump commenting.
The coverage of this issue is even but doesn’t analyze the situation or what it means for Clinton, just that it happened.
The Week That Was is a student-run parody news program broadcast on the Ithaca College Television website. Coverage is satirical and meant to comment on whatever is in the news that week.
In this clip from an episode that originally uploaded October 10 2016. Lizzy, a ditzy college student character, explains what happened in the 2016 first presidential debate from the point of view of someone who totally (not really) watched the debate.
Lizzy touches on the economy when she says that Trump says he pays a “yuge” amount of taxes. while still refusing to release his tax returns.
Trumps tax returns are a hot topic in the election and Trump frequently pronounces “huge” as “yuge” leading to many viral parodies. The show used a “listicle” format as the way that Lizzy communicated her thoughts to increase humor. Listicles are typically brief and do not usually go into thorough detail. It is also important to note that the joke is that Lizzy didn’t actually watch the election so she’s not very informed, which forgives the lack of analysis.
Overall, coverage by The Week That Was in relation to this clip is biased in favor of Clinton. Jokes made about Clinton and her supporters were generally tamer and less insulting than those made about Trump and his.
The Ithacan is a student-run newspaper that mainly focuses on issues surrounding the Ithaca College Campus and City of Ithaca, due to proximity, although there is sometimes commentary on current events at the state, national, and international level.
One way that The Ithacan covered economy in the election was in an article titled “Candidates’ higher education plans could affect private colleges” by News Editor, Aidan Quigley. This is a topical subject both for the Ithaca College community and the United States as a whole. Obviously, college students care about financial planning for higher education but college education has become the social norm and is necessary for steady employment so it is also important to the American family.
Quigley explains that Clinton’s plan “calls for free tuition for students with a family income up to $125,000 at their home state’s public colleges by 2021,” the same plan would “immediately go into effect for students whose family income is below $85,000,” and “free tuition at community colleges, more child support services for students who are parents and the creation of a $25 billion fund to support historically black colleges and universities and other minority-focused institutions.” He also mentions that the plan will cost around $500 billion dollars and will be made by closing tax loopholes for the rich and nods to how Bernie Sanders influenced Clinton’s policies.
Quigley touches on the criticism that Clinton’s plan has gotten from politically right-leaning people. Neal McCluskey, director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute which follows libertarian ideologies, said that it would increase student populations at public colleges and universities, leading to loss of quality in those institutions.
After explaining Clinton’s plan and the criticism of the plan, Quigley writes about how Clinton’s plan affects private colleges and universities. The projected side affects of Clinton’s plan are a higher enrollment in public institutions and therefore, a lower enrollment in private institutions for price-sensitive students and may unintentionally lower diversity.
Quigley then explained Trump’s plan which calls for “a rate of income-based repayment for student loans capped at 12.5 percent of a borrower’s income with all debt forgiven after 15 years” and for “Congress to make institutions with large endowments help lower student cost or risk losing their tax-exempt status.”
Quigley explains how use of endowments is restricted because they must be used as the donor intended them to. He shows the criticism of Trumps plan by both the left-wing people and the right-wing mainly that it wouldn’t increase affordability because so few colleges have endowments of $1 billion dollars and that it doesn’t solve the fundamental problems in higher education.
Quigley concludes his piece by stating that most policies on college affordability would come from the local or state level.
Through the article, Quigley talks more about Clinton’s policy than Trump’s. Clinton’s plan got more coverage, it was more thoroughly stated, with some criticism from right-wing critics, and a background on Bernie Sander’s influence while Trump’s was vague and critiqued by both the left and right. This could be an issue of bias, Ithaca College is a liberal institution, or it could be that Clinton simply gave more information than Trump. A common complaint about Trump in this year’s election coverage is that he rarely answers questions with specifically how he plans to improve the United States.
Either way, the bias is shown simply because Clinton and her supporters got more coverage than Trump and his supporters. The section dedicated to Bernie Sander’s plans for higher education could have been cut out completely because he is not running for president.
Patriotism & Poverty 