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media-project-presentation

Media Paper

In a world with growing opinions, small problems that would not otherwise be issues become massive social issues due to the increasing strong opinions on the opposing or the supporting side. These social issues then become movements that start with a few passionate people that turn into leaders whether they planned to be one or not. We need leaders to take initiative on issues that are so controversial to make a move one way or another. The more intensely someone feels about an issue, the more likely they are to do something about it, an example of a controversial issue is the legalization of Assisted Suicide. Assisted suicide is “when a terminally ill, mentally competent adult, making the choice of their own free will and after meeting strict legal safety precautions, takes prescribed medication to end their life” (Physician Assisted). Assisted suicide has become an increasingly controversial topic as states begin to legalize it.

The legalization began in Oregon and they were the first state to fight for people to be able to “Die with Dignity.” In Oregon on “October 27, 1997 the Death with Dignity act was passed as law” (Physician Assisted) and nearly 11 years later Washington followed in Oregon’s footsteps. Slowly after a few more states legalized the ability for terminally ill patients to end their lives through prescription drugs. So far there are only five states that have taken this law into effect, which are Oregon, Vermont, Washington, California, and Montana. Most people would recognize that these are primarily liberal states, which could be the reason they are the only ones so far to have given people the choice. However, I would argue that these are the states that are willing to change and look to the people that this choice actually effects-the people that are terminally ill and their friends and family. The media has a huge say in the way that people perceive this issue depending on whether they us words with negative or positive connotations. Depending on which station a voter watches, their opinion will basically be made up for them.

There are some articles or websites that simply provide facts about the issue, but there are also stations like a television station in Colorado that refuses to pay respect to the people that choose Assisted suicide. According to Life News, 9NEWS out of Colorado refused to use the term “aid in dying” instead of the word suicide, like supporters requested of the news station. The Colorado news station then replied by saying, “9NEWS has no position on this ballot…Nor do we take the issue lightly. We have a duty to tell you about it in the simple, direct language. That’s why we are not going to stop using the word “suicide” (Smith). This is a perfect example of news stations swaying their viewers toward one side of an issue and in this case they are making them think they should be voting against it. CNN also put out an article about Physician-Assisted Suicide, but they managed to keep it strictly to facts and a timeline about each states process. People need to understand the facts of an issue in order to form an educated opinion. But in most cases, the people that are voting for this issue are the ones that do not know much about it or are thinking solely about themselves and not about the people the law would actually effect which are the terminally ill and the friends and family of the patient. The doctors are another group of people that are included in the passing of the “Right to Choice” law because they are the ones that have to prescribe the medication that will end someone’s life. All of the states that have passed this law have a unique process to that state that the patient and doctor have to go through before being prescribed the medication. In all of the different protocols, the physician is protected and does not have to do something they are uncomfortable with. For example, in Oregon, “the physician must be a Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathy licensed to practice medicine by the Board of Medical Examiners for the State of Oregon and the physician must also be willing to participate in the Act” (Physician-Assisted).  In California, however, the process a little more tedious. Patients that want to end their life prematurely in California must “submit two oral requests, a minimum of 15 days apart, and a written request to his or her attending physician. The attending physician shall directly, and not through a designee, receive all three requests required pursuant to this section” (Physician Assisted). Although this is a newly emerging issue, it still does not receive the amount attention it should because it is almost equivalent to the abortion issue. People have very set in stone opinions on abortion and it is always in the media because of people advocating for the opposing or supporting side. It is probably better for the ill people that do want to make the choice to end their life because they are still slightly protected from the hate and backlash from the media.

In order to make it possible for people to have a choice of assisted suicide, people have to step up as leaders to make change happen. There have been a few influential leaders that helped get the laws passed. Brittany Maynard was 29-year-old woman that was terminally ill due to brain cancer (Bever). She was a resident of California and moved to Oregon when she learned Dying with Dignity was an option for her if she became a resident of Oregon (Bever). She was a leader in the death with dignity movement to get the law passed in California because she understood what it was like to be in that position and not want to live the final months of her life in agonizing pain. She also wanted people to be able to have the choice in their home state rather than having to move like she did.  When Brittany launched her own campaign with an organization called Compassion & Choices she said, “I didn’t launch this campaign because I wanted attention. I did it because I want to see a world where everyone had access to death with dignity, as I have had” (Bever). After Brittany passed away the law was passed in California that allows terminally ill people to make their own choice about life. On the other end of the spectrum “archbishop emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa, and Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu, revealed Thursday that he would like to have assisted suicide as an option if he needs it and urged Christian leaders to support the option for the terminally ill” (Blair). He is a Christian leader, which most people would say is contradictory to Christian beliefs but he the makes the point that by denying people the right to make a choice, “we fail to demonstrate the compassion that lies at the heart of the Christian values” (Blair). This proves that people from all walks of life are willing to allow other people the right to make a choice even if that doesn’t correspond to what you would decide for yourself. It takes people like Brittany Maynard and Desmond Tutu to change to world and how we vote for a right people should have even if you or a person you know are never in that position. There just has to be a few people willing to put themselves out there to advocate for even the most sensitive of subjects.

There has to be a specific type of leadership used and practiced to make a difference on an issue like assisted suicide. Tutu and Maynard were both transformational leaders because they were both able to sway people opinions and transform their previous ideas. The leadership textbook defines transformational leadership as focusing mainly on emotion, values, ethics, standards, and long term goals (Northouse). Due to the fact that transformational leadership deals mostly with emotions and ethics, which both fuel peoples’ view on this topic because death always hits peoples’ emotions. By sharing her story, Brittany Maynard, was able to aid in the passing of the law in California. She shared her journey as her cancer progressed and had people that followed, whether they believed in her decision or not. With Tutu, he wasn’t dying quit yet, but he started to understand why people would possibly choose to make the decision to end their life because he was nearing death himself. He didn’t necessarily make a difference, but he did share his view as a Christian leader on the issue that may have allowed other Christians to voice their previously suppressed support for assisted suicide. They were both able to transform people and anything makes a difference because it only takes one person to make a significant difference.

Assisted suicide doesn’t get as much attention as it should, but it is also a newly rising issue that I’m sure most people aren’t sure how they feel about it because it is such a different concept to grasp. In the states that assisted suicide is legal, the law only passed by the about 1%, which means it is very extremely controversial. I chose to evaluate this topic and its portrayal in the media because for being such a controversial topic, it is never talked about in elections compared to more popular issues like abortion or gun control. I go back and forth on how I feel about assisted suicide, but after watching various videos and reading many articles I realized my opinion was being swayed one way or another depending on the stance of the source I was looking at. I found this to be an interesting observation due to the purpose of this paper. The media truly does have an effect on the opinion of the people viewing it and I am a prime example, just from researching this topic.

Assisted suicide is a growing issue in the media and as more and more states pass laws to allow it, the more attention it is gaining in the media. There are thousands of people diagnosed with terminal illnesses every day and they will have to suffer from agonizing pain until they eventually pass away from their illness. Assisted suicide gives terminally ill people the option to end their lives in a painless way before their illness gets the best of them and their pain medicine no longer works. It may seem completely unethical for someone to intentionally end their own life, but the people that do decide to exercise their right to “Die with Dignity” are just saving themselves and their family from weeks or months of pain and hospital bills. Terminally ill people are able to leave earth the way they want to and are able to leave their friends and families with closure.

Works Cited

Bever, Lindsey. “Brittany Maynard, as Promised, Ends Her Life at 29.” The Washington Post. WP Company, 2 Nov. 2014. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

Blair, Leonardo. “Archbishop Desmond Tutu Wants Christian Leaders to Support Assisted Suicide.” Christian News, The Christian Post. N.p., 10 Oct. 2016. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.

Northouse, Peter Guy. Leadership: Theory and Practice. 6th ed. Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 2013.

“Physician Assisted Suicide Fast Facts.” CNN. Cable News Network, 7 June 2016. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.

Smith, Wesley. “Television Station Bravely Refuses to Call Assisted Suicide “Medical Aid in Dying” | LifeNews.com.” LifeNews.com. N.p., 23 Aug. 2016. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.