Some Media Admit: Pro-Choice Bias Behind Blackout of Gosnell Abortions Trial
A few major news publications, including The Washington Post, admitted that the death penalty trial of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell is largely being ignored by mainstream media because it doesn't fit with the pro-abortion narrative.
"I say we didn't write more because the only abortion story most outlets ever cover in the news pages is every single threat or perceived threat to abortion rights," Melinda Henneberger, a Washington Post politics writer, wrote on Monday.
"In fact, that is so fixed a view of what constitutes coverage of that issue that it's genuinely hard, I think, for many journalists to see a story outside that paradigm as news. That's not so much a conscious decision as a reflex, but the effect is one-sided coverage."
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The 72-year-old Gosnell faces seven counts of first-degree murder for allegedly killing, and even beheading babies who were born outside the womb and still breathing. He is also being charged with the third-degree murder of Karnamaya Monger, a 41-year-old refugee who died in 2009 after she visited his abortion clinic and suffered a Demerol overdose.
Gosnell operated the Women's Medical Society for 40 years in West Philadelphia, and his services were offered to minorities and struggling women who could not afford better hospital treatment.
The Christian Post reported last week that since the murder trial began in March, major news networks like NBC, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and PBS Newshour had yet to make a mention of it, while CNN and National Public Radio provided brief coverage.
Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron admitted that his company should have covered the trial sooner, but promised that that will soon be corrected:
"We believe the story is deserving of coverage by our own staff, and we intend to send a reporter for the resumption of the trial next week," Baron said on Friday.
Lifesite News posted a number of responses from various newspapers and media organizations that have tried to explain why there has been little coverage of a mass murder trial that in most cases would have made headline news across America.
Some news websites denied that there was any kind of bias involved and tried to offer various explanations as to why the story was not being covered, such as offering that the Gosnell trial is more of a local incident than something of national importance.
"We are not operating with a political agenda here," said Jeffrey Toobin of The New Yorker. "I think that's a way of trying to ginning up their supporters."
CBS Evening News anchor Charlie Rose began the network's first piece on Gosnell on Sunday night by asking "Why have most of us never heard the name Dr. Kermit Gosnell?" and reporter Jan Crawford followed up by admitting that "his trial has received little national news coverage" – until allegations of media bias went viral on Twitter with the hashtag Gosnell.
