If you still read newspapers, do you ever wonder how they decide what to run? By way of Instapundit, I found this interesting blog post by Doug Ross, “The curious case of 200 nearly identical headlines.”
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/04/msm-complicit-in-full-court-pr-push-for.html
Recently, Ross found so many similar stories on people who lack health insurance in newspapers across the country he collected them until he realized there were too many to count. The stores presented a one-sided look at the uninsured in America with statements like “1 in 3 Coloradans lacked health insurance of last two years.” And “1 in 3 are uninsured in Georgia, study says.” The stories relied on one source for its facts, Families USA. Families USA is part of the “Progressive States Network” with far-left groups like Acorn, the Center for American Progress, the Universal Healthcare Action Network, etc. They share a liking for bigger government and socialized medicine.
http://www.progressivestates.org/files/reports/HealthCareForAll09.pdf
Ross cites Census data not found in these stories showing that of the supposed 47 million Americans without health insurance, 9.5 million people are illegal aliens, 8.3 million uninsured people are those who make between $50,000 and $74,999 per year and choose not to purchase insurance, and 8.7 million uninsured people are those who make over $75,000 a year and choose not to purchase insurance
This leaves approximately 20 million uninsured who cannot afford insurance. Then Ross cites a Congressional Budget Office statistic that 45% of these will find insurance in the next four months because they are transitioning between jobs. All of this leaves between 8 and 14 million who make less than $50,000 a year, are not eligible for other government assistance, but lack health insurance. This is a problem, but hardly a crisis.
The Internet is revealing what goes on behind the curtains at news organizations. With severe staff cutbacks this could simply be overburdened staffers doing the easiest stories. But I find it hard to believe 200 papers would run something spoon-fed to them by a right-of-center organization.
If newspapers want to be an extension or mouthpiece for the far left, that is fine with me. They are private companies who enjoy what the First Amendment is all about. But the belief that newspapers are objective reporters of record is a lie that can no longer stand because of the Internet. If appealing to maybe 15% of the population is the business model for print media, good luck with that.