In an update to the report the blogger gives a link to a local tv news story about their protest. After viewing this video you might wonder, as I did, if the Fairness Doctrine may have already passed and put into effect without us knowing it.
The coverage of the actual protest was sparse, and actual sound bites were quick and selectively edited. But the worst part was how the "reporter" went out of her way to give "balance" to the story, complete with a formal sit down interview with couple who has a sad story and wants Obamacare in order to cover their health needs. Since there was no "counter-protest" going on arguing for ObamaCare, one wonders why a supposedly impartial news organization felt it had to provide that "balance".
And this is where it starts to get interesting....
The "balance" that reporter Courtney Brennen gives, the older couple (Steve & Tricia Minnick) and their sad story, turns out not to be new to Brennen's reporting resumé. However their story seems to have changed slightly since their previous apperance.
Back in May, Brennen interviewed Tricia Minnick at a Jobs Fair. At the time, the Minnick's story was:
Tricia and her husband retired early and moved to Mexico a few years ago. Healthcare is cheaper there, and her husband is not well. But Tricia now finds herself back in the rat race. "Well, we moved back because our 401-K tanked. We had to come back and find jobs."
However, now when Brennen needed to find some balance to the FreedomWorks protest, her reporting on the Minnick's story has suddenly changed.
Steve and his wife, Tricia, had to move to Mexico because healthcare is cheaper. When their 401k's tanked, they had to move back to the mountains and get full-time jobs. Tricia has been denied insurance coverage several times because of a "pre-existing condition." The new legislation would stop that from happening.Apparently Ms. Brennen studied Journalism under a Glass/Blair Scholarship at my alma mater of Syracuse University. In the initial story that was not related to health care, the Minnick's "retired early and moved to Mexico", which sounds like the American dream. But now that Hope & Change are being protested in the streets Brennen changed the Minnick's story to one of forced relocation in order to find health care. A sad testimony to journalism in our time.
Those folks in this country who do not like the direction that President Obama us have a right to pronounce to opinions in the street, and to their elected officials. All they would really like out of the Media is an unvarnished portrayal of their message. Is that too much too ask? Apparently it is in western North Carolina.
Update: For anyone who might wonder about reporter Courtney Brennen's motivations in presenting the story as she did, need only to read her official bio. In her off time she likes to "...read anything by Anna Quindlen, Maureen Dowd, and Anne Lamott." Yikes! No wonder she felt she had to put the progressive spin on this news story.....
2 comments:
It is a shame that some Americans are so gullible, to the outlandish propaganda and lies spat in the newspapers, television and radio about Obama’s health care agenda. They have demonized the British, Canadian and other worthy plans. Hidden under a disguise cover, these radical entities are determined to keep the special interest organizations in absolute power. Comprising of the money-draining profitable insurance companies and their rich stockholders. They don't want any changes to the broken system of medical care, because it will hurt the status quo. I was born in England, in the county of Sussex and until the inception of the European Union and the European Parliament dictating to Britain. That they must accept millions of foreign workers, the nations medical system was exemplary. I never had to wonder if I would have to file bankruptcy, to pay my medical bills, or listen to the incessant ring of debt collectors on the phone.
On several occasions I ended up in the cottage hospital and their was never a cost applied to it, never a ream of paperwork. Incidentally, I choose my own doctor where I Lived. The longest I waited for surgery was three months, as it was not an emergency. No doctor, no hospital or specialist asking me for my Social Security number, drivers license or if I was covered by a predatory for-profit insurer. No premiums, no-cops and pre-existing condition clauses. Yes! Didn't have a private room, but who cares? Today the British Isles is being submerged under a barrage of legal and illegal immigrants, who have never paid into the system, have caused some rationing. Prior to the importation of foreign labor my trips to doctor, to hospital, the eye or a dentist was paid from my taxation. Unless we pass a national health care agenda, Americans will never know what it's like to breeze through their lives, without worrying about paying for health care? Tell your Senators and Congressman you want an alternative to the--GET RICH-- insurance companies, before a Universal health care is killed. 202-224-312 REMEMBER THE INVESTORS AND STOCKHOLDERS DON'T WANT THEIR PIECE OF THE $$$TRILLION$$$ DOLLAR PIE DISTURBED. EVEN SOME POLITICIANS HAVE THEIR DIRTY FINGERS IN THE PIE?
AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE PRIVATE HEALTH CARE, A GOVERNMENT SINGLE PAYER SYSTEM WILL ASSIST IN REVITALIZING THE WILTING US ECONOMY.
Even without the Fairness Doctrine, progressives can still challenge the renewal of these stations' licenses for failing to serve the "public interest" -- that's ALL of the public -- not just lying to pander to the right wing nuts that are a small minority of the mostly liberal and moderate people of America.
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