The Media's Town Hall Bias: How cameras bend reality

The news media has long had a problem with mis-portraying reality, but the bias that creeps into coverage usually doesn't come from journalists' own opinions. The real problem is the media's need to be sensational.

Often, for example, local TV news has hyped crime stories to the point that viewers thought they were living through a crime wave. In reality, the number of crimes either hadn't changed or had decreased.

These days it can look like Obama's attempt to reform the health care system has been shot down by widespread citizen revolt. Everytime you turn on the TV, there's yet another town hall meeting where yet another member of Congress is being screamed at by his or her constituents.

Today E.J. Dionne stated the obvious:

(W)hat if our media-created impression of the meetings is wrong? What if the highly publicized screamers represented only a fraction of public opinion? What if most of the town halls were populated by citizens who respectfully but firmly expressed a mixture of support, concern and doubt?

There is an overwhelming case that the electronic media went out of their way to cover the noise and ignored the calmer (and from television's point of view "boring") encounters between elected representatives and their constituents.

The real prescription for health care reform

I'm with Tom Toles on this one. The real problem, of course, is finding supplies of this vitally needed vaccine.

For those of you in and near Lawrence, Kan., you can help build up some of that necessary vaccine by attending two MoveOn.org events this week.

Attend the town hall meeting being held by Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Topeka, at the Dole Center on the KU Campus at 4 p.m. tomorrow. Visit MoveOn's health-care vigil at South Park Wednesday at 8 p.m.

Let Ted Kennedy's voice be heard today

This is why we need universal health insurance, and this is why the senators who object to it are hypocrites. On this day of all days, Let Ted Kennedy's voice be heard.



MoveOn.org is asking that people put a lighted candle in their window tonight to memorialize Kennedy. I'm going to. Will you?

Today's Read: The big lie about health insurance

Karen Tumulty writes in Time magazine today about the biggest lie in the healthcare debate: the idea that health insurance will cover your expenses. She writes about her eye-opening experiences with her brother, Pat.

This story is well worth reading, and it points up a fact that everyone except politicians on the right and the very rich understand. Arguing that a a new health system will ration care is absurd. Health care is already rationed in this country.

Bush follows Castro's lead by sending doctors to Latin America

By Nancy Jane Moore

NPR reported today that Bush is copying Castro -- he's going to provide some doctors for poor people in Latin America.

Actually, this is part of what The Washington Post termed a "modest" initiative. Bush is going to send a Navy medical ship down to dock in 12 ports. Apparently they're going to see 85,000 patients and perform 1,500 operations. He's also putting some money into teaching Latin Americans to speak English and helping folks in some countries get a mortgage.

I don't object to good neighbor programs, but these are pretty small ones. I'm not sure helping 85,000 sick people is going to make much of a dent in the health needs of Latin America.

But it wasn't the size of the program that got me. It was the fact that a country that can't seem to take care of its own people is supposedly going to go help folks elsewhere. If the doctors on that Navy ship can handle 85,000 people, maybe we ought to put them in charge of taking care of the wounded from the Iraq war. So far all Bush has done for our injured troops is appoint a commission after five years of ignoring the problem.

And let's not forget the 45.8 million folks in the U.S. without any kind of health insurance coverage -- a figure that doesn't take into account the people who have lousy coverage or the amount of time that those with decent policies waste making sure the doctor they need is on the plan or arguing over whether something should be covered.

The English lessons will be a good thing, though. Except that the place they're really needed is here in the U.S., where we say we want immigrants to learn English, but are cutting back the programs. The New York Times -- in an article that, alas, is no longer available online for free -- reported Feb. 27 on how English for immigrant classes are disappearing and waiting lists for the existing ones are getting longer.

One good thing about money for English education in Latin America: It'll provide work for U.S. expatriates who want to support themselves by teaching English while living in other places. Hell, if you think about it like that, it's almost a jobs program.