Media Bias on Schiavo Case

aim.org ^ | April 11, 2005 | Cliff Kincaid

[TheRobb7]

Opponents of Terri Schiavo's right to life had to have been happy with media coverage of the case. First, there was the "GOP Talking Points" memo that made Republicans look bad by depicting their interest in the case as completely partisan. That was seized upon by many media organizations, even though there was never any proof that Republican Senators had even read it. Second, there was heavy publicity given to a flawed ABC News poll finding that 63 percent of people said they supported the decision to remove Schiavo's feeding tube and 70 percent were opposed to congressional involvement. Columnist Michelle Malkin was among those noting that respondents were given misleading information about Terri's status and fate. Mickey Kaus of Slate.com said the poll was badly worded and biased. Here is how ABC framed the main poll question: "As you may know, a woman in Florida named Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage and has been on life support for 15 years. Doctors say she has no consciousness and her condition is irreversible. Her parents and her husband disagree on whether or not she should be kept on life support. In cases like this who do you think should have final say, (the parents) or (the spouse)?" A follow-up question asked: "If you were in this condition, would you want to be kept alive, or not?" The answer was that 78 percent said they would not want to live under similar conditions. Malkin commented that the use of the loaded phrase "life support" in the question evoked images of a comatose patient being artificially sustained by myriad machines and pumps and wires. She added, "Terri was on a feeding tube. A feeding tube is not a ventilator. Terri can breathe just fine on her own."

[pc93]

Re: Greer - anybody seen this yet?

http://tekgnosis.typepad.com/tekgnosis/2005/04/floridah_gov_an.html#comments

While I disagree about some of the comments re: culpability in the comments of this person I wasn't aware of this url he mentions at the end of the comments.