Word: hot-button
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...State's senior Senator and his GOP challenger sparred over this campaign's hot-button issues--crime, welfare and the economy--when questioned by the panel of journalists. But they saved their most potent barbs for when they questioned each other directly...
...carefully modulated performance, yet whenever he touched on his hot-button issues he began to wave his arms and wag his finger as if he were at a street-corner rally. Zhirinovsky justified his frequently bizarre behavior as "tactical." "It's the sorry state of affairs in this country that forces me to take so tough a stand to avert something even worse," he said. "If there were a healthy economy and security for the people, I would lose all the votes I have...
During the speech, Draisen emphasized his experience in the state legislature and discussed the year's two hot-button issues: crime and health care reform...
Pursuing these high-impact, hot-button stories can pose dangers. For one thing, there is the tendency to overdramatize and oversimplify. The most notorious example was the rigged crash test of a GM truck on Dateline NBC. Though many network executives dismiss the incident as an aberration, it is symptomatic of the pressure to make stories that sizzle. "The constant race for ideas leads to a tendency to sensationalize and blow things out of proportion," says Everette Dennis, executive director of the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center...
...economic issues. Last week the President announced plans to lift the ban that prevents foreigners with the AIDS virus from immigrating to -- or even visiting -- the U.S. Most medical experts support the change on the grounds that the virus is not easily transmitted. "This shouldn't be a hot-button issue, especially when you consider the lack of a public health threat," says Dr. June Osborn, chairman of the National Commission on AIDS. But opponents believe the plan could be both dangerous and costly. "Unless you believe we have the AIDS crisis under control, I would advise you to resist...