Retailer on Military Bases Says TV News Is Too ‘Divisive.’ Its Suggestion: Tune to Sports.
Summary
A memo from the Army and Air Force Exchange Service this week stated that in this age of political divisiveness, retailers on the 34+ military bases shouldn't play news on public televisions and instead should play sports. They stated that "As a federal entity, we should remain neutral on political issues," in an effort to curb partisan debates. The retail service sent a second email to amend the first message that basically removed the political motives from the message but still recommended the TVs be turned to sports to allow for local needs, schedules, etc. This issue of partisan news ties is not new, and there have been lawsuits in doctor's offices, gym, hospitals, and more public places. A spokesman for the retail service said that the email was not a new policy but a reminder and was not sparked by any incident.
Analysis
This article was written in Dallas, TX on Friday, April 13th, 2019. I knew about the public opinion in hospitals and gyms on partisan news sources, but I didn't know this had spread to the military. This relates to the time when the Federalist and Anti-Federalist parties were formed under George Washington's presidency. These two parties created the two party system we still work under today. The main audience of this is anybody who lives on a military base and uses the Post Exchange or Commissary, but could include anybody in the US, because we are all effected by the political system. The article was written by Sarah Mervosh who covers breaking news but has also worked as an investigative reporter and criminal justice reporter for the NYTimes. This article is important because we all see public TVs and are effected by or own political views and biases.
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