The Watergate Affair Essay Example for Free

The Watergate Affair Essay The Watergate Affair was perhaps one of the greatest political scandals to have affected the Ameican government. Its significance was this scandal involved officials leading up to the highest levels of the government which ultimately led to the White House which was during the incumbency of President Richard Nixon. The immediate cause of this scandal began when several men were arrested for burglarizing the headquarters of the Democratic Party at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC hence the name of the scandal. These men were caught rummaging filing cabinets for vital documents and electronic wiretapping devices were also found in their persons; apparently, they were planinng to bug the office and electronically eavesdrop on any conversation taking place there. The underlying cause behind this operations was the Nixon Administration was concerned on how confidential government reports were being obtained by the Democrats which served as political ammunition against Nixons reelection bid. It was later revealed that the men involved were aides of the Presidents re-election team though initially, President Nixon denied any involvement and subsequent news reports revealed that a massive cover-up was being conducted as an attempt to cover up any involvement by the President. Subsequent investigations by the media revealed that the White House has formed a secret unit called â€Å"Plumbers† for the purpose of spying reporters and government officials who may have been leaking information to the former (Szulc, 1972, p. E2; Rugaber, 1972, p. 220). The media had been faithfully following the events related to what became known as the Watergate Scandal which had by far, overshadowed the achievements of Nixon during his presidency and hounded him all throughout. These revelations of covert government operations within the United States prompted the Senate to form a committee on the campaign activities of the President on February of 1973. Throughout the year, more revelations came out as the pressure on those responsible was intensifying ranging from being sworn to silence and destroying evidence of involvement by the White House. This then prompted the Senate to subpoena Nixon who had repeatedly refused to appear and even release the tapes when demanded, further heightening the suspicion of a cover-up as it was revealed when these tapes had been edited by the time it was released to them (Apple, 1974, pp. 57-58). The constant reporting of the media of what the Senate committee revealed had convinced the American public that Nixon should be impeached and (possibly) made to resign if found guilty (Kovach, 1974, p. 1). Based on the initial investigations by the Senate and its appointed prosecutors, Nixon was charged by the Senate for obstruction of justice, abusing his power and showing contempt of Congress by refusing to appear in the hearings and these became grounds on serving an impeachment against him. Seeing that he had proverbially painted himself in a corner and by the 9th of August, 1974, Nixon went on national television to announce his resignation to spare himself the indignity of being served the impeachment following the availability of more evidence that would furher incriminate him. The Watergate Affair revealed how the government could abuse its power in conducting spying and even conduct political sabotage and it was unfortunate that in its desire to keep certain matters of the state a secret, its agents were caught and led to severe repercussions. References Apple, R. W. (1974, January 5). â€Å"Nixon Rejects Subpoenas from Senate Committee for 500 Tapes and Papers. † New York Times. pp. 57-58. Rugaber, W. (1973, January 14). â€Å"Mystery, Comedy, Etc. Dirty Tricks. † New York Times. p. 220. Szulc, T. (1972, June 25). â€Å"From the Folks Who Brought You the Bay of Pigs. † New York Times.

personal narrative Essay -- essays research papers

The Gift After what seemed like an eternity of rigorous tests and dealing with the painful longing of wanting to hold a precious baby of my own in my arms, it happened; my dreams at long last came true. I was pregnant! But something happened; I felt my world come crashing down. The thought of bringing another life into this world terrified me. After marriage, my husband and I immediately wanted to start a family. A year or so went by and still nothing, no baby. I decided to check myself out to see if anything was wrong. I went through all the normal tests to see if there were any problems. The doctors couldn’t find any concrete explanation why I wasn’t able to conceive. As a last resource, before getting into more invasive measures, my doctor wanted me to try a fertility pill called Clomid. Figuring I didn’t have anything to loose, I started taking the pills. A few months after taking Clomid, I realized I was feeling a bit strange. I was more tired then I normally felt. I decided to take a pregnancy test. Assuming I was going to get the same negative result, I take the test, walk away and gather my thoughts. Hoping and praying for a different outcome that I had become accustomed to. I walked back to read the results. Expecting to see a negative test, I stare at the test in disbelief. Two pink lines! I blink my eyes to make sure I am not seeing things, it was true. A positive pregnancy test, some...

What is the advantages and disadvantages of totally freedom

Freedom of expression is the concept of being able to transfer ideas or thoughts verbally or otherwise freely without censorship. It was awarded global recognition as a universal human right and ingrained in the Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In spite of its status, it is never absolute in any country. The international law posits that, restrictions on free speech must comport with a strict three part test viz: operate under provision of the law, express legitimacy in pursuing aim, and display the relevance to the accomplishment of the said aim. To this end, the dignity of a person is much more of his expression than wealth. In actual sense, the loss of freedom of expression is equated to loss of credibility in all respects. Governments today spend billions in branding themselves as investor destinations providing return on investment through social, economic and political stability. However, these efforts to achieve desired economic growth becomes unrewarding with a subdued sense of expression. Like a spectrum of colours in rainbow, the society displays the wealthy and poor in ranks of dignity; regimes with rotten ideologies, people with divisive utterances and societies with despised wisdom. Freedom of mass media is the fundamental basis on which democracy and good governance are pivoted. Advantages of free press is the reason for the revolution in information that forms the global village (globalisation). As history notes, Sukarno, the former President of Indonesia, during a visit to Hollywood characterised media as unconscious revolutionaries because media-makers create new expectations, increase knowledge of other possibilities of better life for example, of other ideologies, and even other forms of governances. And as very often been stated, it remains true, what the eminent Thomas Jefferson, one time American President had to say once, and I quote: Were it left for me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  Tacitly put by Dr. Outa, Research and Communications Advisor, â€Å"our safety is perhaps unconceivable today without a vigilant and questioning press that reminds us constantly of our shortcomings† Indeed it is a truism that in the modern world, the press is the primary source of quick and actionable pieces of information, without which our citizens and their leaders at large would remain, fatally ignorant! Thus free press has gains inclusive of the dissemination of Economic Development objectives to the populaces, the objective of mobilising a whole country to walk the development talks However, may it be noted that several schools of thought have registered their support for the control of mass media. The question of media regulation stems from the fact that media are social institutions and equally, they are industries operation in society. It follows therefore that media are faced with some mechanism that controls their functions and mechanisms, just like any other industry. Without the due diligence to these fundamental principles of fairness, accuracy, the very defence of press freedom collapses and thereby opening the unsavoury gates of acrimony and misunderstanding with a whole range of stakeholders. For example, Gerbner (1969) argues that mass communicators operate under pressure, including for example advertisers, competitors, authority (legal/political structures), other institutions and the audience. To the extent that media are part and parcel of society, a measure of control is required. Media control is difficult because of the unique place media occupies in society. For example: i) they produce goods and services which are both private and public in nature. Public service in that the info is necessary for the working of society; private because there is personal gratification, ii) Media have unique characteristics because they perform a political function whereby free press is an important element of democracy. In that case, there should be no monopoly of information by any one quarter. Media occupy that important perch because, historically, what media do or do not do has mattered in society and public life. Media, if not a public property, is in the public domain. Since media operate in society and are related in some ways to the prevailing societal structures viz: politics, economics, culture it is only fair that it be controlled by the some structures. This is so because media are able to: attract and direct attention; mould public opinion; influence behaviour and confer status; and confer dominant definitions in society—who is to be listened to; who is to be followed, etc. Media regulations and control in any given society depend on the prevailing media environments, which differ from one place to another, one time to another, one period to another, one culture to another. Although the importance of press freedom cannot be denied, it is generally asserted that media can promote visions of common purpose and at the same time can promote visions of discord and disunity. Although it is accepted that objectivity should be the guiding spirit, instances of press partisanship have been common place globally—sensationalism, owner interference, pursuit of profits, self-interest, etc. Every State has a political interest in controlling the activities of the media within its boundaries. This interest is a legitimate one based on the idea of sovereignty. Yet when we accept that sovereignty is supreme, the following questions become important: 1. Who defines the role of the media? 2. How much control should the State exercise? 3. What acceptable methods and instrument of control should the State adopt? These questions lack easy answers. In spite of all, mass communicators agree that self regulation is a perfect way of media being on track yet the Swahili proverb of Kinyozi hajinyowi (barber cannot shave himself) creates a dilemma of state/authoritative interventions.

The Influence Of Fandom On Celebrity Music Fandom As...

2.5 Directions Forward In the chapters that follow, I seek to contrast themes endemic to celebrity music fandom-as-religion literature with my data set and, in that juxtaposition, demonstrate ways in which scholars of fandom-as-religion may have mischaracterized fan emotion, sentiment, and action, as well as the fan-celebrity relationship. I follow Sandvoss in his distinction between fandom and religion: â€Å"In contrast to religion, fandom lacks an absolute, other-worldly framework through which social realities are constructed and legitimized. If fandom differs so radically in its premises from religion, it is difficult to juxtapose their consequences meaningfully† (2005, 63). One question this dissertation asks is if religion is a useful†¦show more content†¦For example, Patsy Cline’s posthumous narrative appropriates social class, Tupac mediates identity and social narratives, and Robert Johnson acts as a â€Å"hook to hang stories on† (Rothenbuhler 2005, 230). The latter of these, Robert Johnson as a â€Å"hook to hang stories on,† is one of the most useful ways of describing the individual and collective purpose of dead celebrity. First in life, but then more solidly in death, these musicians come to embody a certain narrative, such as the late singer Karen Carpenter. Carpenter, posthumously dubbed â€Å"Saint Karen,† died of anorexia in 1983 and her image became a cautionary tale. Fans mediate these meanings of the Carpenter narrative for their own purposes. For example, some girls and women identified with the narrative as trapped by the disorder, lacking autonomy and control over their life (see Bowers and Grey 2005, 110). Dead celebrity musicians become an image, a location and place where fans understand themselves and their place in the world, should the fan pursue such identification. As externalizations, the image represents what the fan needs it to represent. The image, as Bowers and Grey rightly point out, becomes resilient to attacks, â€Å"as popular icons, musicians may often come to represent larger