No Media Coverage Kermit Gosnell Trial

Dr. Kermit Gosnell
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by Kerby Anderson, Point of View: Over the last few weeks, many of us have been following the lack of media coverage of the trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell. First, we were noticing that the trial of this abortion doctor (who some had called a mass murderer) was receiving no media coverage. Then we waited to hear the explanations for why there was essentially a media blackout.

Columnist and political analyst Kirsten Powers asked her media colleagues why they avoided any coverage of a trial that had all the elements of what mainstream media would want in a story. Correspondent Megan McCardle tried to explain “Why I Didn’t Write About Gosnell’s Trial And Why I Should Have.”

Perhaps the best summary came from Washington Post writer Melinda Henneberger who tries to explain “Why Kermit Gosnell Hasn’t Been on Page One.” One of her colleagues tried to argue that Gosnell’s atrocities were a local crime. But she counters that she couldn’t think of another mass murder that the media every saw that way.

Another journalist suggested that the rest of the country doesn’t care about Philadelphia. Or perhaps the media blackout occurred because Gosnell performed abortions on poor, black patients. But that was not true. He actually treated white patients himself, while his assistants treated the others.

She therefore concludes that “we didn’t write more because the only abortion story most outlets cover in the news pages is every single threat or perceived threat to abortion rights.” She believes it is merely a newsroom reflex.

Here’s the calculus. A trial of someone who broke into an abortion clinic and destroyed equipment. That’s news. A trial of an abortionist who cut off heads of aborted babies born alive. That’s not worth coverage.

Put another way, the mainstream media has a number of sacred cows. Abortion is at the top of the list. That’s why some of you may be hearing about the Kermit Gosnell trial right now for the first time as you are listening to my commentary.
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Kirby Anderson is an author, lecturer, visiting professor and radio host and contributor on nationally syndicated "Point of View" and the "Probe" radio programs.

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