Americans are speaking out against the media – with their money.
Midway through the Indiegogo campaign [1], the Gosnell movie raised $1 million– almost half of the $2.1 million needed to direct and produce the story of America’s “most prolific serial killer.” The project recently made headlines for becoming the most-funded movie ever [2] on “crowdfunding” site Indigogo, with more than 10, 600 contributors.
Filmmaker Phelim McAleer with wife Ann McElhinney gave themselves a 45 day limit to raise $2.1 million [3] – and reached $500,000 on April 9 [4] with more than 6,500 funders. They aim to create a scripted drama based on abortionist Kermit Gosnell’s trial and grand jury report [5]. The team turned to Indiegogo [6] when similar crowdfunded site Kickstarter complained that, among other things, the project described babies “stabbed to death [7].”
Abortion Dr. Kermit Gosnell was convicted last May [8] of first-degree murder of three babies born alive – though many more may have met similar fates in his Philadelphia clinic. A mere 12-15 reporters [9] attended the trial, in which witnesses described baby abortion survivors “swimming” [10] in toilets, “trying to get out.” Not until after [11] intense conservative pressure, a public outcry and letters from members of the House of Representatives did all three broadcast networks report on the story.
According to a previous statement by McElhinney [4], the fundraising success of the Gosnell project will cause Hollywood and the media to “pay attention.” “People are angry with them for ignoring the news and the truth,” she explained.
Kickstarter’s initial refusal to allow the Gosnell project recently surfaced as hypocritical [12] in regards to other projects allowed on the site. Those included “After Tiller,” [12] a documentary empathizing with the last four third-trimester abortionists in the United States.
— Katie Yoder is Staff Writer, Joe and Betty Anderlik Fellow in Culture and Media at the Media Research Center. Follow Katie Yoder on Twitter. [13]