Uncritical Condition «

Uncritical Condition «: "President Barack Obama wants a health care reform plan by August and the news media are doing their part to make it happen. ABC, CBS and NBC have boosted the administration’s case with sad stories about children without medical care and cancer patients whose insurance was cancelled. At the same time, those networks are nearly ignoring trillion-dollar cost estimates for a universal health care package, and have been virtually silent on the failures of Medicare the government insurance program that “reform” would be modeled on.

Some network journalists, like ABC medical editor Dr. Tim Johnson, are openly embracing “ObamaCare.” A long-time supporter of government-run health care, this “objective” journalist calls the lack of “universal coverage” a “national shame.” ABC and the other networks are promoting Obama’s “historic” and “ambitious” health care agenda. Stories on ABC, CBS and NBC favored proponents to critics by a margin of more than 2-to-1 (243 to 104).

The Media Research Center’s Business & Media Institute examined 224 stories about health care on the three broadcast networks’ morning and evening shows that aired between Jan. 20, the date of Obama’s inauguration, and June 24, the night of ABC’s prime time town hall special on health care. Here are some additional findings:

Read the Executive Summary and Download the full report here: