Massive religious liberty lawsuit, minor broadcast coverage

May 23, 2012 By

Do you remember the conflagration that erupted in the mainstream media, fueled in part by members of the mainstream media, when the Susan G. Komen Foundation decided to stop voluntarily giving a small portion of its budget to the even larger Planned Parenthood? Do you remember some of those nightly newscasts?

It doesn’t require a degree in media criticism to have noticed how biased the coverage was. But one of the things I found striking about the second day of the story was how the nightly news casts played it. Or as ABC’s Rick Klein tweeted at the time:

Backlash at Susan G. Komen over Planned Parenthood move leads @ABCWorldNews & NBC; CBS starts with Afghanistan war

It led the news that night. A decision by a women’s breast health charity to stop giving a few hundred thousand dollars a year to the nation’s largest abortion provider was massive news. And the stories that were done — for instance, by ABC, were just horrible. ABC’s report ran for three and a half minutes.

So earlier this week, one of the largest religious lawsuits in American history was launched. For all I know, it may be the largest religious lawsuit ever launched in history. It involves, as savvy readers probably know by now, 43 Catholic dioceses, schools, hospitals, social service agencies and other institutions. They all filed suit in federal court to stop various government agencies from implementing a mandate that would require them to cover contraceptives, sterilization and some abortion drugs in their health plans.

How many minutes did ABC World News give this story when it opened the broadcast with this news? Well, it turns out that they didn’t open their nightly news with this lawsuit. That’s understandable, I guess. I mean there were other major stories they featured, judging from their Twitter feed, such as “Meet the First Lady of Facebook: Priscilla Chan,” and “Yemen Suicide Bombing Death Toll Nears 100″ and “Dharun Ravi Sentenced to 30 Days in Jail.” I don’t know which story they led with, if any of those. Maybe someone who watches that program can tell us. But it wasn’t the religious liberty lawsuit.

So where did the religious liberty lawsuit get placed in ABC’s nightly news and how long did it run?

I’ll let you guess on placement before we find out the answer. Did you guess?

You are 100% correct: They didn’t get around to mentioning it. On Monday or Tuesday. At this point, I’m just wondering how someone who gets their news exclusively from ABC World News views the world. I don’t really watch network news (I save up my TV time for important stuff such as Community and Top Chef) so I don’t know the answer to it, but it’s just really interesting to me.

Anyway, how did other networks do? From LifeNews.com:

ABC on Monday and Tuesday completely ignored 12 major lawsuits filed by Catholic groups over the Obama-imposed birth control mandate. NBC allowed a mere 20 seconds to the topic.

CBS This Morning, however, was the only show on the networks to devote a full report to the lawsuits. Co-host Charlie Rose allowed Cardinal Timothy Dolan to make his case that the mandate limits religious liberty. Rose wondered, “What is it you want the administration to do?” However, co-host Erica Hill pushed the responsibility on Catholics: “So, have you reached out specifically to President Obama to again plead your case and say, here’s where my problem is?”

After Dolan insisted that the Catholic Church has been unable to sway the President, Rose badgered, “But, I mean, he’s a phone call away for you.”

On the CBS Evening News, anchor Scott Pelley got to the topic 18 minutes into the program and allowed 19 seconds.

The only mention on NBC came when Today news reader Savannah Guthrie briefly explained, “In their largest challenge yet, dozens of Roman Catholic schools, dioceses and other institutions filed lawsuits Monday against the Obama administration’s birth control mandate.”

We’re told that ABC skipped coverage of the lawsuit on its World News, Nightline and Good Morning America programs. The latter, we’re told, did include segments on Pink’s feud with Chris Brown and a lengthy segment on how things are going with Dancing With The Stars.

I do have to mention a note we received from one reader:

Is it me, or does it seem as if 43 Catholic organizations — including Notre Dame — filing suit against the government is a non-story? I can’t remember the last time that happened, probably because it never did. … No news alerts that one of the largest law firms in the world is representing 43 Catholic organizations in 12 federal lawsuits pro bono, though I will get news alerts about pitcher so-and-so throwing a perfect game. Any reaction?

I don’t know, maybe we should cut the networks some slack. When the original story about Catholic bishops fighting the mandate broke at the beginning of the year, some of the networks got around to mentioning it a few weeks later. I’m sure we’ll hear more about this lawsuit in mid-June or so.

The thing is that this lawsuit is a big deal and it’s got tons of interesting angles in terms of players, supporters, analysis and possible outcomes. And as I like to point out, it’s certainly not a slam dunk legal case that the religious freedom advocates are pushing. However, it’s probably like the other mandate lawsuits — regarding people having to purchase insurance — that were in the news. They were treated as unserious by many in the mainstream media right up until the Supreme Court took the arguments extremely seriously. We’re seeing a similar pattern here. It’s also worth noting, as tmatt was getting at yesterday, that these aren’t the first lawsuits in the battle and the first lawsuits were somehow not filed by Catholics (they didn’t get the media narrative memo on these things, I guess).

Also, though, no coverage at ABC and other outlets doesn’t mean that every media outlet ignored the story. Embedded above is a long interview of Cardinal Timothy Dolan on CBS Morning News. It’s just him talking about the lawsuit with two interviewers, so there’s not a lot of balance, but it was still pretty interesting. They keep trying to get him to say mean things about Obama and he keeps failing to do so. The interview format enables a more substantive look at precisely what the bishops are upset about. There’s also a print write-up of the interview that concludes with how interviewer Charlie Rose asked Dolan about Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius appearing at Georgetown last weekend. Here’s the last paragraph:

Sebelius is a practicing Catholic and mother and spouse of Georgetown graduates. Georgetown University President John DeGioia defended the university’s decision to invite Sebelius as evidence the university “is committed to the free exchange of ideas.”

This may be a question with an obvious answer but I wonder what “practicing” means in this case. I’m particularly curious about what it means to be a practicing Catholic given her unique circumstance of having been asked by her local bishop in Kansas to refrain from Holy Communion because of her “30-year history of advocating and acting in support of legalized abortion.” Archbishop Joseph Naumann said he made the request only after speaking with her for two years about the issue. And when she moved to Washington, D.C. to take the job, the news reports indicated that the ban on Communion would be honored by the local bishop. Maybe I’m just completely behind the times but, given that Sebelius’ rhetoric and actions on the issue have if anything ramped up, I don’t imagine the ban has been dropped. Does anyone know? Should communion practice be part of the media definition of “practicing”? Or what do they mean by “practicing”?

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Filed Under: Catholicism, Journalism, Politics
  • Bill

    Mollie, it’s just part of the same old story of Catholic bishops’ ongoing war against women. Why cover it? It only encourages them. Besides, there are more important religious issues to cover, like Womenpriests and the Papal Blue Meanies’ attack on American nuns.

    This is just not an important story when there are meatier issues to digest. For instance, on ABC’s website, I learned about Jennifer Anniston’s secret indulgence, a boy trapped in a washing machine, a software exec charged in a Lego scam, how colored chips slow down snacking, a gay superhero tying the knot, and Howard Stern making a contestant cry.

    There’s a lot of news out there. We can’t waste time with silly lawsuit stories.

    (BTW, did you read ABC’s piece about Wayne Newton’s nasty lawsuit?)

  • Rachel K

    I would almost–almost–understand the non-coverage if it were just various dioceses and places like Catholic U pressing this suit. It’s news, but it’s not really surprising that these organizations would sue because they’ve been vowing to do so ever since the mandate went down. What makes this unforgivable, though, is that Notre Dame is among the plaintiffs. You know, those guys who had Obama as a commencement speaker and vigorously defended that decision against more conservative Catholic voices. The fact that they’re now siding with those conservative Catholic voices against Obama is huge.

    Oh, yeah, and let’s not forget that in the commencement speech, Obama said, “Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause….” The headlines should write themselves.

  • Julia

    I have never heard of so many lawsuits filed simultaneously in Federal courts across the country – regardless of the issues. This lack of media coverage is just incredible.

    On an earlier GR thread there were links to media coverage saying this was a fight of the hierarchy against Obama. Heads of universities, hospitals, charities, etc. are not hierarchy and very often are not even priests. Are bishops the new bad guys du jour ? Invoked even when not involved in order to demonize the actions of lay people, sisters and priests?

  • http://www.getreligion.org Mollie

    Report: CNN devoted over twice the air-time to a “stroller moms” protest against toxic chemicals than it did to the biggest religious lawsuit in U.S. history filed Monday.

    See, if only Notre Dame had delivered its lawsuit as part of a stroller brigade …

  • c matt

    In a way, I agree with Bill – why encourage them? Their coverage would be one-sidedly biased against the Plaintiffs, and they would only muck it up. Let the MSM stick to its expertise – fluff pieces about the latest celebrity shenanigans. For IQs above the average diastolic blood pressure, we have the internet.

  • Jeff

    Gay superheroes are important. Gay *anything* is more important than anything else that happens not to be gay. More important than religious liberty, more important than drone strikes against dead babies in Afghanistan, and more important than the strikes against dead babies every day at Planned Parenthood. Welcome to Bizarro World, welcome to the MSM, and welcome to Hell.

  • http://!)! Passing By

    The good news is that the judiciary, unlike the electorate, is unlikely to be affected by news coverage. From a journalistic standpoint, I can see the problem, though.

    I learned of the lawsuits from our local broadcast news, but then, the Dioceses of Dallas and Fort Worth are both among those suing. The broadcast I saw featured Bp. Vann of Fort Worth giving a longish statement.

  • http://!)! Passing By

    Meant to ask: Mollie, do you trust Lifenews? I’ve seen a couple of things on the site that turned out to be questionable, at best, and have read other complaints? I’m sympathetic to their viewpoint, but wonder if they are reliable?

  • http://www.getreligion.org Mollie

    Passing By,

    I don’t read it enough to have an opinion. I should add that I do remember someone else questioning one of their stories and I looked into it and it panned out. It wasn’t something we covered at GetReligion, just something related to the PPACA. But the point is that it was questioned and later reported on by mainstream outlets, too, and it panned out.

    Anyway, let me know if you remember the specifics of the questionable stuff.

  • Thinkling

    Passing By,

    You may be thinking of LifeSiteNews. Lifenews isn’t perfect (and make no pretenses about not taking a position), but they do try to get their facts correct.

    LSN on the other hand is a mixed bag. The misrepresentation of those they criticize is not uncommon there.

    Neither take great steps to avoid sounding polemical, though.

  • Thomas A. Szyszkiewicz

    Rachel K — I would respectfully disagree. I cannot even almost understand the non-coverage at all. Yes, the ND element certainly added some attraction to the story, but to me that was more the icing on the cake. OK, so they had to eat crow and I for one am glad of it, but when people do stupid things like they did, crow is probably going to end up being good for them.

    But just think about it — this is the first time in American history where dioceses like Erie (home of a bishop who is mocked as Bishop Troutperson (real name Trautman) because of his support for gender-neutral language in the liturgy), or Jackson and Biloxi in Mississippi, have sued the federal government, never mind the archdioceses of NY or DC. Schools, charities, three health care systems, three universities (not counting ND), a major publisher, a nursing home, a center for the deaf — whoever heard of these groups suing the federal government before, never mind 43 of them filing 12 suits in different states on a single day by a single law firm that is doing all the work for free? This is completely unprecedented and it should be real news to the country.

    But apparently it’s far more important to let people know that (*imagine major news announcer voice*) “Los Angeles Angels pitcher Jered Weaver has just pitched a no-hitter against the Minnesota Twins, shutting them out 9-0″ immediately after it has happened via e-mail alerts, than it is to let people know that (*yaaaawwwwwn!!*) the Catholic Church has launched a major legal assault on the administration.

  • Kristen

    Regarding being a “practicing” Catholic…obviously when a bishop publicly comments that someone has been asked to refrain from receiving Holy Communion, that person’s designation as a “practicing” Catholic should be questioned by an editor. So, toss the word practicing. But, truthfully, Sebelius is a Catholic and always will be, at least by virtue of the fact of her baptism. No matter what we do, God doesn’t rescind that grace.

    The simple fact that all of these Catholic dioceses and organizations are suing the federal government may not seem like news to the ideologues in broadcast tv (remember that lots of those young writers/producers are 20-somethings in their first job out of journalism school) but history will show that this is a major turning point in the history of the Catholic Church in America.

  • http://Www.wtbq.com stephenhopkins

    Nicely written and right on target…haven’t seen any like these…mostly Catholics say nothing…

  • http://!)! Passing By

    Thinkling,

    Yes, it was LifeSiteNews. Thank you. And thank you, Mollie, for the information. I will check out Lifenews.

  • Mollie

    By the way, I’m typing this while at the American Religious Freedom Conference in Washington, D.C. While there are many from the Catholic and Christian press here, there is also someone from the New York Times. Perhaps other secular media I haven’t run into yet. It’s also being covered by C-Span.

  • Rick

    Maybe this is further proof that the bandwidth used by the broadcast television media should be taken back and redistributed to broadband services to expand video services over the net. It sure seems like the only true journalism happening today is happening on the net.

  • Julia

    Mollie:

    Thanks for the heads-up. It’s on right now.

    A So. Baptist Dean of the Sanford U Divinity School is now speaking about the forming of Baptist thinking in the 1600s in London. First, it’s about a lawyer writing about religious liberty vis a vis the state. Great stuff. First written appeal for universal religious liberty.

  • http://www.getreligion.org Mollie

    Julia,

    That makes me feel like you’re sitting right next to me. I am getting a huge kick out of hearing this same Baptist quoting Augustine.

  • Rachel K

    Thomas A. Szyszkiewicz–All very true. My almost-understanding says more about how much I’ve given up on broadcast media than about the story’s newsworthiness. :)

  • Mark Baddeley

    It is becoming a farce. When I read that Notre Dame had joined the lawsuit, I thought (and on one website said) that this’ll be a gamechanger – the MSM will have to acknowledge the other side of the debate now and won’t be able to frame this as simply reproductive rights versus nasty anti-Obama Catholics. Notre Dame has too much mainstream respect, and gave Obama a commencement speech and doctorate.

    Instead it is all but ignored.

    The comparison with the stupidity over Komen and Planned Parenthood is apropos, one was done heavily one handedly at length, the other is being ignored. In cases that touch the core concerns of progressiveism (at the moment abortion, contraception and homosexuality, and pretty well only those things) MSM is an advocacy outlet.

    In some ways I feel like Charlie with the football and Lucy. ‘Surely this time the media will be true to their calling and just report what is happenning.’ And once again the football gets yanked away.

  • Nancy D.

    Oops, that should have read, for anyone here who claims to not get Religion!

  • Nancy D.

    For anyone here who claims to not get Religion, I am wondering if you can explain how mandating that every Insurance Company provide free contraception for all, thus promoting promiscuity and the sexual objectification of the human person, is Good for the posterity and the prosperity of this Nation?