Skewing The Health Care Debate (about today)

[WilliamPitt]

(Image: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: jgarber, lepiaf.geo)

Skewing The Health Care Debate
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

Thursday 25 February 2010

President Obama met on Thursday with the glitterati of Capitol Hill in a much-ballyhooed confab on health care reform, and more specifically, the health of his current health care reform proposal. I was supposed to use this space to describe the details of that conference, to get into the nitty-gritty details of who said what, who made the most sense and What It All Means in the end. My intention was to do another running diary on the actual proceedings, but I couldn't do that, and for one reason: I didn't tune in to C-SPAN.

Instead, I spent my day oscillating between MSNBC, CNN and even Fox, not only to see what was happening at the conference, but to get a sense of how the three big cable news networks were covering the affair. I tired quickly of Fox, for all the oft-repeated reasons, and began flipping back and forth between the other two cans of alphabet soup. Every once in a while, CNN and MSNBC deigned to show footage of the actual event, but a majority of their air time was devoted to giving right-wing anti-reform mouth-breathing cretins free reign to spew their nonsense to all points on the compass.


Rather than go into all the gory details of the incredibly slanted display put forth by those networks, I believe a short personal story is necessary. Most intelligent people instinctively distrust what they see on television, but that often fails to disrupt the impact these networks have on our national conversation. You should know who and what you're watching, and I was fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to experience the reality of the medium that so thoroughly bulldozed the health care conversation that took place behind the media blinders on Thursday.

As I was flipping around between the cable networks, trying to find one that didn't have Ben Stein and his neo-con nonsense front and center, a memory resurfaced of a personal experience I had with MSNBC. It was the winter of 2003, and the Bush administration's hard push for war in Iraq was well underway. My book, "War on Iraq," had been out since the previous fall, making the argument (correctly, as it turns out) that there were no WMD in Iraq, no connections to al-Qaeda or 9/11, and so there was no reason to invade.

I was driving home from work one day when my cell phone rang. I had only recently purchased the thing, my first, and was as ignorant at that time of the dangers of talking on the phone while driving as everyone else. Add to this the fact that my car was a stick shift, and I was smoking a cigarette, and I was entering the multi-laned quasi-intersectioned nightmare of roadwork behind Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I put the butt in the ashtray, downshifted, and answered the call while swerving into the confused welter of traffic along the Charles River.

On the line was a producer for an MSNBC news show; she told me she had read my book and really enjoyed it, and was inviting me to come on the network to talk about Iraq. Specifically, she wanted me to come on and talk about Hans Blix and his weapons inspectors, who at that point had been in Iraq for less than 100 hours. They hadn't found anything yet, but were still looking. Very specifically, she wanted me to come on MSNBC and say that Blix and his inspectors were doing a terrible job, that Iraq definitely had WMD and 9/11 connections, and that Bush should blow off Blix and do whatever the hell he wants.

I very nearly put my car into the river.

The rest: http://www.truthout.org/skewing-health-care-debate57192

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Exactly. The essential point you made is here:

The last thing General Electric wants is to see Obama's health care reform become a reality, because it would cost them money. Just as GE did when it wanted to make money off Bush's war in Iraq, it was manifestly obvious that GE used MSNBC to skew the health care debate in their favor. That's just how they roll.

Well done, my dear Will...

Very well done.

K&R

:hug:

[LSK]

2. does not compute

How do you explain Ed Schultz, Rachel and Keith. Ed practically bases his entire show on getting a public option and Keith does special comments every few weeks demanding a public option, and Rachel is Rachel.

GE being hellbent against any healthcare bill being passed does not jive with what I see on MSNBC at times (although I do not watch it during the day and I watched the event on CSPAN).

[The_Commonist]

3. They are the clowns put there for "balance."

They give GE, and the entire M$M for that matter, the out of "There are TOO liberals in the media."
Don't be fooled.

[Uncle Joe]

4. That's another point of fact, has anyone ever heard the corporate media paint themselves

as being too conservative or corporatist?

For some reason "liberal" political leaders are amply labeled as such by the corporate media, but rarely if ever can I an remember the corporate media labeling Republicans as "conservative."

I believe this is done to skew the American People's sense of political balance.

If an accused "liberal media" institution paints Democrats as liberal; those Democrats must be off the scales, but if Republicans are rarely if ever described as conservative or corporatist while given plenty of air time, what else can the average American People assume other than them being middle of the road moderate?

I also believe this is done because the corporate media have an inherent conflict of interest favoring the corporate point of view over that of the people and this meshes with a conservative/corporate point of view over all others.

[madamesilverspurs]

5. The contrast in coverage was stunning.

We watched the first part of the summit on C-SPAN3. When they broke for lunch our hostess informed us that she had been unexpectedly called in to work. So we all headed home, and when I flipped on my television (I have just basic cable) MSNBC was showing the Olympics, regular C-SPAN was showing the House of Representative, and Fox is not allowed. CNN was the remaining option, and I very nearly pitched the sofa through the TV screen as Blitzer and crew gave their version of the event that was showing in the background. Viewers could SEE the summit, but not hear it. It was, without any shred of doubt, a deliberate obliteration of a unique and very important moment. Today CNN did Fox proud.

kayed and arrrrrrrred

---

[cilla4progress]

6. Listened on POTUS on Sirius

We don't have TV anyway, and I caught snatches between errands on my automobile Sirius radio. Unexpurgated so, you can imagine, very good (even without the visuals).

I downloaded the opening ceremonies (Olympics) and noticed the same thing you discuss: I just wanted the hacks to shut up so I could go where the ceremonies creators were trying to take us - I found them lovely.

Who are these hacks? And by the way, how immature are these Republicans? Can someone explain to me what has happened to people since the Constitutional Convention in @ 1778? Has TV brought down the national IQ and character?

[JDPriestly]

9. Cable is too expensive and useless. Cancel your cable subscription

and get DSL. You can get a gadget that connects your computer to the TV and watch whatever you want without paying for anything you don't want. When you buy cable, you pay for a zillion stations you never watch. DSL internet is not free either -- might even be close to the same price in many places, but you don't have to pay for the corporate nonsense if you don't want to.

You can get all of C-Span and the White House information on the internet.

We combine Netflix and the internet and don't miss cable at all.

[radiclib]

7. Will, what I wish you'd done back in '03

I wish you'd agreed to spew their prefab talking points, and then gone on the air and told about the conversation you had with the producer. I had the same thought when you first told this story. Of course, your mic would have been quickly cut and your TeeVee career would be gone forever, but it would have been so sweet to blow the credibility of an entire "news" network. Would it not?

[The Wielding Truth]

8. You are wittiness to the corruption that has been working it's way through our democracy.

This is a testimony that should be taken into court to show how the national opinion of those who have been using us has been shaped. Thanks for clearing our view of the slimy operatives.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

10. what the .... !!???

That's my first response to the person who called you for an exclusive......

She fricken read the book..what the hell is she doing, talking to you like you've just done a booksigning in the Barnes and Noble basement bathroom for your freeper book pushed to #1 on the Times list because right wing think tanks bought in bulk?????????

Then I got it....
the protocol is, contact pundit regardless of views and see if they'll be bought off.