By Emma Trapp
Round Table marketing director
Facebook, Twitter and personal blogs are just a few main media sources that have had such an immense effect on politics. The most recent issue has been the one involving the Susan G. Komen program.
The Susan G. Program, created by Nancy Brinker, is a non-profit organization whose goal is to provide grants and donated money to other non-profit organizations that aid women diagnosed with breast cancer.
In the past, Komen was one of the most supported non-profit organizations, but as of late it has experienced an enormous backlash from the media due to its decision not to renew its grant for Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood is an organization whose main focus is to aid women, whether that means with contraceptives or abortion. Planned Parenthood is a productive program that helps women in many ways, but the only aspect of it that has been focused on is its abortion policies.
Komen claimed that Planned Parenthood was under investigation by Congress and it couldn’t fund anyone under investigation: a new law of Komen’s that, coincidently, started at the same time.
Florida Representative Cliff Stearns was the man behind the investigation on Planned Parenthood. The main reason behind Stearns’ investigation is because he is conservative and ardently pro-life.
Stearns seems to have overlooked all of the help Planned Parenthood has provided for women who have low-incomes and women with breast cancer; abortion is not the only option it supports.
What Stearns was trying to accomplish is to shut down a program that has helped millions of women. Even though Planned Parenthood has saved lives, he would prefer that the breast cancer death rates go up as long as it reduces the number of abortions performed.
The media’s effect was significant when it came to Komen changing its mind regarding the decision to renew Planned Parenthood’s grant.
People were disgusted with Komen’s decision and expressed their opinions through social media outlets. People who had been with the program for years decided to stop funding and supporting Komen.
This issue has proven media’s massive effect on politics and social issues. The media is so effective because it’s easy, fast, and can be seen worldwide. It takes less than thirty seconds to sign an online petition.
Recently, there have been numerous issues that have been put to rest due to the media. One of the most recent was the SOPA bill. The day Wikipedia shut down in protest signaled the end of SOPA. The media was in an uproar; people were creating petitions and groups all over the internet. The pressure proved to be too much for SOPA, which, although still alive, was shelved indefinitely by its supporters.
With the enormous backlash from the media and all of its funding being revoked, Komen would have eventually ceased to exist.
Only a few days after announcing the pull of its Planned Parenthoods grant, Komen decided to renew its funding.
Vice President of Komen, Karen Handel, cracked under pressure, resigning shortly after the decision to resume funding of Planned Parenthood. Her resignation letter expressed her support for the pull and her disappointment in Komen’s decision to re-fund the program.
Thanks to the help of the media, the Planned Parenthood program got all of its funding granted by Komen.
With the massive effect on issues such as Susan G. Komen and SOPA, viewers are left with one question: where will the media be going in the future?
