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Pod people: media struggles mightily with abortion coverage

Pod people: media struggles mightily with abortion coverage

Last updated on: June 16, 2013 at 8:22 pm by mollie

Pod people: media struggles mightily with abortion coverage 2013-06-16T20:22:38-04:00 mollie

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On this week’s Crossroads, host Todd Wilken and I discussed that embarrassing BuzzFeed confusion — or defiant ignorance, really — about basic and widespread traditional Christian teaching on evil. We also discussed the curious way in which the Washington Post is downplaying even local abortion “crime” stories.

Three abortion doctors had their licenses suspended after the death of a woman who had an abortion but The Washington Post just doesn’t find that newsworthy at all.

Honest. I mean, they ran a brief Associated Press story on the matter online and the only follow-up I’ve found is — no joke — a three paragraph update that one of the doctors had their license reinstated. Also by the Associated Press. Wouldn’t want to put any local reporter resources into this story, I guess.

Abortion coverage continues to be such a grievous weak point across the media. We’re all familiar by now with the approach taken where reporters ask something close to 100% of pro-life politicians about rape, even though it’s not a major policy point. And while the majority of Americans support some or all abortion restrictions, it somehow never occurs to reporters to ask the most radical pro-choice politicians (those who support no restrictions on abortions) about their extremism.

So when a reporter for the conservative Weekly Standard did the job that no mainstream reporter will do — asking Rep. Nancy Pelosi about her opposition to legislation that protects unborn children targeted by late-term abortions such as ones that end the lives of children the same age (but other side of the birth canal) as the ones convicted murderer Kermit Gosnell killed — you will never guess how the Washington Post wrote up her response …

Actually, you probably could guess, so want to try?

Right. They wrote it up as if the problem was the reporter asking the hard question.

See more at “Pelosi clashes with reporter over abortion bill, Kermit Gosnell.”

I’m just waiting … and waiting … and waiting … for a single mainstream reporter to come up with a single question to extreme pro-choice politicians along the lines of the constant rape questions asked of extreme pro-life politicians.

Just one would blow me away. Let me know if you can find a single tough or even slightly critical question from a mainstream reporter asked of a single pro-choice politician who opposes any restrictions on abortion.

Once we find a single tough journalistic question asked of a single pro-choice politician, we can work to improve coverage from there. I’m sure that the Washington Post, which has — as of this evening — 618 blog items, 293 news articles, 18 videos, nine discussions and three photo galleries on “Todd Akin” and “rape” can afford to get a single tough question about support for abortion who could survive outside the womb, etc., etc.

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