For a quality comparison of media outlets, I figured the best way to do this was to take a look at two different views on the same controversial issue. One of the most controversial issues receiving a lot of heat moment is the legalization of medicinal marijuana. Before I go any further in this study, I would like to express the fact that I am not trying to condemn medicinal marijuana, nor endorse it; I am simply trying to take a look at two different views on the same subject. .
Time magazine is a periodical of Time Inc., a company within AOL TIME Warner. TIME magazine itself was founded in 1923, from it's age, they claim is their reason for journalistic excellence. TIME Inc. also claims that it's the "world's leading magazine company-. Time Inc. publishes about 140 regular-frequency titles with 298 million readers, as well as numerous special issues. On this month's issue of "TIME- magazine, a picture of a cigarette carton filled with marijuana joints is taking up more than half of the cover, adjacent to the words, "Is America going to pot? (the battle heats up over legalizing marijuana)-. Time magazine devoted 11 pages to the science, politics, and the effects of marijuana on the human body. These articles are in response to the Nevada state ballot proposal to legalize marijuana, which will be voted on, on November 5. The magazine articles do a good job treating the pot-legalization movement as a serious issue, but their authors exposed their personal views on the subject by stating, "a lot of parents would rather smell beer on their kid's breath than have a 29 year-old living at home, eating Cheetos and watching Spongebob Squarepants."".
This and other statements like it do nothing to disperse the negative social stereotype of the lazy, stupid stoner, which was one of the main points of the cover story. But other than that, the authors did do a fairly good job at giving unbiased coverage within the story.
