With recent debates over gun policy, another story has emerged that is up for debate. This time it was a non-violent issue taking place at a middle school. A student was disciplined twice for wearing t-shirts that had certain imagery on them. The first time he was wearing a shirt from a local gun shop, and the second time he was wearing a shirt that had no imagery of gun and had the sentence “Don’t Tread On Me.” The exact extent of the punishment was not stated all that was said about the situation was that the teacher said to cover up the shirt. The family has received support from the Firearms Policy Foundation and the Firearms Party Coalition. Both of these organization support the Second Amendment.
The Blaze is contributing to the agenda setting of conservative views towards the Second Amendment. The article only used quotes from those that are supporting the students side of the lawsuit. It almost seems as if they did not try to receive quotes from anyone on the opposing side of the case. The article states that they attempted to receive a report from the school district but said that the only quote they received was that the district was “looking into the allegations.” Besides this there are no other quotes from people on the opposing side. Thus making it impossible to see what people who oppose the Second Amendment have to say about this situation. All of these factors add up to give a conservative perspective of this story as opposed to a neutral perspective.
This article is has strong and very identifiable conservative ideals, but as opposed to being obviously bias it is subtly bias. To start, the site where this article is located is The Blaze, which is a notoriously right leaning news source. Before the article begins there is a mini profile for who wrote the article, Aaron Colen, who is a moderate conservative. His profile goes onto show that his influences are strictly conservative. Colen’s political bias is suttle throughout the article, making it seem as if it is reporting on the incident from a neutral view. Also, the quotes used from the student’s attorney portray him as being the victim in this situation. The situation itself could have been handled better by the teacher, but it strays away from the fact that the student was already disciplined once and chose to wear another shirt with similar views over three months later. At the conclusion of the article, a guide in an attached link by the Firearms Party Coalition was given so that “pro-gun students use their freedom of speech to push back against the widespread gun control protests of the past few months.” This alone is proof to show that the article has a pro-gun connotation. The FPC did not release this guide because of the one situation reported on. However, the author put the link in this article knowing that it would be useful for his audience. Showing the author’s political bias, giving the article a more pro-gun standpoint.
The quotes and information given in this article is enough proof to accuse the author and committing confirmation bias. By only showing conservative viewpoints and quotes he does not allow for the readers to see a neutral or liberal viewpoint of the situation.
Media and Politics at SU 