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We affirm the resolution: Current trends in American political dialogue compromise meaningful democraticdeliberation.

The Random House Dictionary1

defines trends as: the general course or prevailing tendency; drift: Theimplication of this definition is that the debate should center around social events that have a large influence on

American political dialogue.

Meaningful democratic deliberation would be productive deliberation, or discussion of all sides, according toPrinceton University

2. Productivity, in this case, would be decision-making as that would be the end goal for

politicians in order to create policies.

A prerequisite for productive decision-making is factual information. Should political dialogue eschew evidence foemotional appeals, then that would ultimately compromise meaningful democratic deliberation. Thus, if we prove t

current trends in American political dialogue have less factual information, then we win.

Our first contention is that current trends in American political dialogue decrease the use of factual information. Thmedia establishes a narrative by which they can justify created facts. The Colbert Report

3indicts Rupert Murdoch a

the Wall Street Journal by exposing the narrative created by these news organizations.

Specifically, the Wall Street Journal published a photo of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan playing softball incollege, which led to gay rights bloggers protesting against the baseless rumors that Kagan was a lesbian. After the

outrage, the New York Post, another publication Murdoch owned, covered the reaction to the photo with a headlineDoes this photo suggest high court nominee Elena Kagan is a lesbian? directly next to an opinion piece titled, I

was token straight gal on gay team.

Christopher Bartone4 of Ohio University describes the narrative process helped to start the Iraq War.

Mainstream news media organizations have adoptedclassical Hollywoodnarrative storytelling conventions in order to

conveyvitalnewsinformation. In doing so, these organizations tell news stories in a way that paintspolitical realities as causal agents, delicateinternational crises as sensational conflicts, and factual profiles of public figures as colorful characterizationBy establishing artificial narrative lines and unnecessarily antagonistic conflict, the press has at times become an unwittin

agent of government policy and, in part, altered the course of international events.The classicalHollywoodnarrative is the storytellingmodel on which the American media based its coverage ofUnited Statesforeign policy after September 11, 2001. T

sensationalized coverage culminated in a cinematic presentation of events that led to the 2003 U.S. invasionIraq.Since September 11, a narrative plot unfolded, the characters were defined, and t he tension rose. The news media primed the audience as if the American people were watching a well-executed and often

predictable Hollywood narrative. And though there was no evidence that proved Iraq had played a role in the September 11attacks, by March of 2003 the war seemed inevitable and possessing of seemingly perfect narrative logic.

News narratives destroy meaningful democratic deliberation by replacing facts with trumped-up stories. Real goals

are hijacked by ridiculous fluff like the Kagan controversy, and the ultimate ramifications for this trend in Americapolitical dialogue can be as severe as the war in Iraq.

"trend." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 08 Jun. 2010. .2 wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn. 13 June 2010. Princeton WordNet3 "Confirming Elena". Colbert Report. Stephen Colbert. Comedy Central. May 13, 2010.4 Bartone, Christopher. "NEWS MEDIA NARRATIVE AND THE IRAQ WAR, 2001-2003:HOW THE CLASSICAL HOLLYWOOD NARRATIVE STYLE DICTATES STORYTELLING TECHNIQUES IN MAISTREAM DIGITAL NEWS MEDIA AND CHALLENGES TRADITIONAL ETHICS IN JOURNALISMOhio University. June 2006.

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Our second contention is that critical journalism is eroding interest in politics, and thus interest in meaningfuldemocratic deliberation.

Sub-point A: Critical news is a current trend. The Harvard Kennedy School of Government5

writes:

Critical news (that is, news about the failings of leaders, institutions, and policies) has risen steadily in recen

decades. Negative coverage of presidential candidates is an example. In 1960, about 25% of the evaluativecoverage of candidates was negative in tone. In the past three presidential elections, more than 50% of thecoverage has been negative.

Sub-point B: Critical journalism is eroding interest in politics. The Harvard Kennedy School of Government6

write

The studyalsofound that critical journalism is weakening the demand for news by depressing the publics

interest in politics. Interest levels have dropped significantly in recent years. Critical journalism, the report concludes, "is not the only facnecessarily the major one" in t he publics declining interest in politics. But"negative news is eroding Americans political trust and interest. . . . A

politics becomes less attractive to citizens, so, too, does the news. Individuals who have a strong interest inpolitics are three and one-half times more likely (83% to 24%) to follow the news closely than those with a

weak interest. As interest falls step-by-step, so too does news consumption."

Without an interest in news nor politics, citizens have neither the factual information or the will to create meaningfdemocratic deliberation. The trend of critical news compromises such ideals.

5 Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government. Shorestein Center. New Study Indicates Soft News and Critical Journalism Are Eroding Audiences and Weakening Democracy. Harvard Kennedy School. Harvard University, 12001. Web. 8 June 2010. .6 Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government. Shorestein Center. New Study Indicates Soft News and Critical Journalism Are Eroding Audiences and Weakening Democracy. Harvard Kennedy School. Harvard University, 12001. Web. 8 June 2010. .