Posted on 08/25/2009 7:57:03 AM PDT by re_tail20
For once, mainstream journalists did not retreat to the studied neutrality of quoting dueling antagonists.
They tried to perform last rites on the ludicrous claim about President Obama's death panels, telling Sarah Palin, in effect, you've got to quit making things up.
But it didn't matter. The story refused to die.
The crackling, often angry debate over health-care reform has severely tested the media's ability to untangle a story of immense complexity. In many ways, news organizations have risen to the occasion; in others they have become agents of distortion. But even when they report the facts, they have had trouble influencing public opinion.
In the 10 days after Palin warned on Facebook of an America "in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel,' " The Washington Post mentioned the phrase 18 times, the New York Times 16 times, and network and cable news at least 154 times (many daytime news shows are not transcribed).
While there is legitimate debate about the legislation's funding for voluntary end-of-life counseling sessions, the former Alaska governor's claim that government panels would make euthanasia decisions was clearly debunked. Yet an NBC poll last week found that 45 percent of those surveyed believe the measure would allow the government to make decisions about cutting off care to the elderly -- a figure that rose to 75 percent among Fox News viewers.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Sarah Palin touched a raw nerve in these people and it’s showing.
I never realized journalists were part of the debate. I thought they dispassionately reported the news without any opinion whatsoever.
The National Review is not the conservative bible. To most conservatives (I know we have a healthy dose of agnostics and atheists), only the Bible is the Bible.
And I’m a little turned off by the excuses of the fawning MSM (state run media) dismissing Sarah Palin’s death panels. Just because H.R. 3200 describes them in some benevolent fashion, death panels they are, nonetheless.
I don't care who you are, that's funny right there.
It's always entertaining to watch members of the DNC media pretend that they're somehow objective.
No Kurtz, you lying sack of filth. What she meant is that people would be denied life saving care - like they are in other countries that have socialized medicene. And the American people understand it.
“news organizations have risen to the occasion;”
Really.
- Who in the MSM exposed the fact that Public Option is a 2-year-old idea to sell Single-Payer by stealth?
- Who exposed the union giveaways in ObamaCare?
- Who has dug into other details of ObamaCare / HR3200 and exposed them?
phooey.
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