{"id":22293,"date":"2013-04-13T17:03:45","date_gmt":"2013-04-13T21:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=22293"},"modified":"2016-09-30T16:52:01","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:52:01","slug":"is-media-bias-tainting-the-gosnell-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/04\/is-media-bias-tainting-the-gosnell-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Is media bias tainting the Gosnell story?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Veteran journo Paul Moses ponders that question over at Commonweal\u2019s blog:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

There is\u00a0a lively debate<\/a>\u00a0over whether major national news organizations have\u00a0ignored or downplayed\u00a0<\/a>the trial of a Philadelphia abortion doctor who is charged with murder in the deaths of seven babies allegedly born alive and one mother\u2026With the sensational charges made by both sides, the intense emotions (many of the witnesses are dissolving into tears), the high stakes and the important social issues being raised, the Gosnell trial is clearly a national story. It has received that treatment from the largest U.S. news organization, the Associated Press, which has covered the trial daily and moved lengthy articles not only to regional clients but on the national wire as well. So daily, national coverage is available to those who want it. The\u00a0New York Times<\/em>, having done an article in 2011 on how Gosnell\u2019s squalid clinic had escaped state oversight, ran a\u00a0story\u00a0<\/a>on the trial\u2019s opening arguments. (To review daily coverage of the trial, check the\u00a0Philadelphia Inquirer<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

But there are some major news organizations, especially the television networks, showing no interest in the trial. Is that because of bias?\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0media critic Erik Wemple\u00a0questioned<\/a>\u00a0some of the national outlets, including his own. That led Martin Baron, the editor of the\u00a0Post<\/em>, to respond: \u201cWe believe the story is deserving of coverage by our own staff, and we intend to send a reporter for the resumption of the trial next week. In retrospect, we should have sent a reporter sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, the Gosnell trial is news. National news, available from the AP wire.<\/p>\n

But I would expect to see few news organizations from outside the region staff the trial on a daily basis. The Gosnell trial was projected to last six to eight weeks. It\u2019s rare for a trial to receive day-to-day national coverage nowadays. It\u2019s expensive, especially for the TV networks, which have to dispatch a crew for an extended period of time. (It\u2019s much easier to assail the media for not doing the coverage than it is to report on a two-month trial yourself.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here\u2019s the thing: the trial is unfolding in Philadelphia, not Kalamazoo. \u00a0Philly\u2019s about a 90-minute drive from Manhattan. \u00a0Also, given the realities of the news business today, most TV networks rely heavily on contributions from local affiliates. \u00a0While I\u2019m not a viewer of the Philadelphia market, I imagine most of the TV stations there are watching this story closely. \u00a0(Indeed, the NBC affiliate has a special web page<\/a><\/strong> devoted to the trial) \u00a0Using feeds\/contributions from affiliates would cost the networks almost nothing and dramatically raise the profile of a story that deserves more attention.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a huge story. And a sensational one, chock full of lurid details and shocking lapses in judgment. \u00a0After all, when was the last time a doctor in the United States faced multiple charges of infanticide\u2014and faced, potentially, the death penalty?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure if bias is involved\u2014conscious or unconscious\u2014but as I mentioned here<\/a><\/strong>, there\u2019s no good reason not to be covering it.<\/p>\n

Meantime, Elizabeth Scalia notes that some have been watching and writing about this story for years<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Veteran journo Paul Moses ponders that question over at Commonweal\u2019s blog:\u00a0 There is\u00a0a lively debate\u00a0over whether major national news organizations have\u00a0ignored or downplayed\u00a0the trial of a Philadelphia abortion doctor who is charged with murder in the deaths of seven babies allegedly born alive and one mother\u2026With the sensational charges made by both sides, the intense […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,29,43],"tags":[11178],"class_list":["post-22293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journalism","category-media","category-pro-life","tag-journalism"],"yoast_head":"\nIs media bias tainting the Gosnell story?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Veteran journo Paul Moses ponders that question over at Commonweal's blog:\u00a0 There is\u00a0a 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