Too old for Washington?

     

    With the 2024 election occurring in the coming months, much has been covered by the media as it relates to the age of the presidential candidates. President Biden has particularly become increasingly more scrutinized because of his age, and the presentation of his age by different media outlets reveals just how different media outlets perceive his age as a true concern.

    In the article "Biden's Age an Issue Making Him Too Old to Serve" published by NEWSMAX, a news outlet that is perceived to be more conservative, Jake Matthews presents Biden's age as a problem that Americans should be concerned with. Throughout the article, Mathews purposefully describes Biden as an "81-year-old geriatric," and even refers to Biden's age and mental capacity as "extremely concerning" in order to perpetuate the notion that Biden is unfit to serve as a viable president in the 2024 election (Mathews 2024).

    Converse to Mathews' assessment on NEWSMAX, Robert Costa presents Biden's age as a political distractor in order to discredit him. Costa contends that "it's easier to focus on age," and that the people aren't considering how demanding and "seriously taxing" the job of president is which may cause mistakes in speech to be made (Costa 2024).

    Both of these vastly different assessments on the same issue demonstrate how impactful the media is in framing issues related to the President's age.

Reference:

Costa, Robert. “The Age-Old Question: How Old Is Too Old for Washington, D.C.?” CBS News, CBS Interactive, www.cbsnews.com/news/the-age-old-question-how-old-is-too-old- for-washington-d-c/. Accessed 20 Feb. 2024. 

Matthews, Jake. “Matthews: Biden’s Age an Issue Making Him Too Old to Serve.” Newsmax, Newsmax Media, Inc. Newsmax Media, Inc., 20 Feb. 2024, www.newsmax.com/politics/geriatric-gop/2024/02/20/id/1154303/.