The media are
finally taking the hint: Kermit Gosnell is a figure worthy of attention.
CNN’s Jake Tapper interviewed Philadelphia Magazine’s Steve Volk on his in-depth correspondence with Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell. Tapper began the dialogue by probing, “so much of his case, who he is, why he did what he did, and how he got away with it for so long, well that all remains a mystery.” “The Monster Speaks” segment [1] aired September 25 on “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”
Tapper asked Volk, the only to speak with Gosnell during his time in prison, “Is he a mad man?”
“I think at bottom he was a true believer in abortion rights,” Volk explained. “And for me, that’s ultimately what the story is about: what can happen when a self-righteous belief in yourself and your own authority spirals out of control.”
In May, Gosnell was convicted of [2] first-degree murder for the deaths of three babies as well as involuntary manslaughter and a host of lesser charges in a trial that featured stories of babies swimming [3] in toilets and macabre “house of horrors” clinic conditions. The following month, he pleaded guilty to [1] dealing close to a million deadly narcotics.
Volk registered shock [4] at Gosnell’s “fatal blighting,” a concept where Gosnell considered babies who survived abortion as dead, with no chance of survival because of an injection to stop the baby’s heart. Volk called it “one of the most disturbing parts of our conversation.”
Volk’s work appeared in Philadelphia Magazine [5] as well as in an e-book entitled, “Gosnell’s Babies [6].”
The report signals a tone change for CNN, which made headlines [7] after covering the Jodi Arias trial more in one day than the Gosnell trial in eight weeks.
The media originally censored [8] the case – failing to attend even the trial [9] – to the chagrin off both conservatives and liberals.
— Katie Yoder is Staff Writer, Joe and Betty Anderlik Fellow in Culture and Media at the Media Research Center. Follow Katie Yoder on Twitter. [10]