Political Animal - How health care rulings are covered: "Regular readers may recall an item from February, in which I compared coverage of health care court rulings from several major media outlets. Given yesterday’s developments, it’s time to revisit the subject.
To briefly review, there were five major lower-court rulings that evaluated the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act on the merits, three sided with the Obama administration and two sided with ACA opponents. As I documented, rulings in support of the law generally received little to no attention from the Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, and the Associated Press, while rulings against the law were literally treated as front-page news.
Indeed, it wasn’t even close. In every instance, conservative rulings received more coverage, longer articles, and better placement.
Yesterday’s ruling was the most important to date — it was the first ruling from a federal appeals court bench — and even had the added hook of having Republican-appointed judges siding with the Obama administration. Surely this is front-page news, right?
Wrong"
To briefly review, there were five major lower-court rulings that evaluated the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act on the merits, three sided with the Obama administration and two sided with ACA opponents. As I documented, rulings in support of the law generally received little to no attention from the Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, and the Associated Press, while rulings against the law were literally treated as front-page news.
Indeed, it wasn’t even close. In every instance, conservative rulings received more coverage, longer articles, and better placement.
Yesterday’s ruling was the most important to date — it was the first ruling from a federal appeals court bench — and even had the added hook of having Republican-appointed judges siding with the Obama administration. Surely this is front-page news, right?
Wrong"
Comments