Well someone’s been listening. Tuesday’s USA Today featured a long, front-page report [1] on the Gosnell trial. The Philadelphia abortionist on trial for the murder of one woman and seven babies has enjoyed remarkable obscurity as the media maintained a near-total [2] blackout on the story.
But pressure from conservatives led by MRC’s Brent Bozell may be having an impact. In a statement yesterday [3], Bozell called out the three broadcast networks. “The horror in Boston is worthy of extensive, in-depth coverage, but so is the maiming, mutilation and murder allegedly committed by Gosnell. Testimony that a baby who survived an abortion was 'swimming' in a toilet and 'trying to get out' is as gruesome as anything that happened in Boston, but the broadcast networks are censoring it because they want to protect abortion at all costs.”
But to its credit, USA Today ran a detailed analysis of the case and its potential impact on the abortion debate. At nearly 1,800 words, the front page article didn’t pull any punches. “One clinic worker testified that she saw aborted fetuses moving, breathing and, once, ‘screeching,’” read its first sentence, followed by, “Another described a 2-foot-long fetus that ‘didn't have eyes or a mouth, but it was like … making this noise. … It sounded like a little alien.’”
It would be nice to see other national news outlets, like ABC, CBS and NBC join USA Today. And maybe they will, now that the judge has thrown out three [4] of the eight counts of murder Gosnell is accused of.