August 5, 2009 - 9:00am
Diagnosis: ABC, CBS and NBC All Guilty of Pro-ObamaCare Bias
Alexandria, VA - Today the Media Research Center (MRC) revealed that ABC News is not the only network guilty of giving Democratic-donating medical doctors a microphone to "report" on President Barack Obama's government health care proposal. CBS and NBC medical physician correspondents have also chipped in their own cash to Democratic - but never Republican - candidates.
A search of OpenSecrets.org revealed:
• CBS's Dr. Jon LaPook - Before joining CBS, LaPook gave $4,000 to Democratic presidential candidates Al Gore, John Kerry and Wesley Clark, plus a hefty $20,000 donation to the DNC.
• NBC's Dr. Nancy Snyderman - Records show two contributions totaling $800 to Democratic congressional candidates when she worked at the health care giant Johnson & Johnson after her stint at ABC News and before joining NBC.
• ABC's Dr. David Besser and Dr. Tim Johnson - The MRC recently exposed Besser's $400 donation to Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, a contribution made before ABC hired him and announced he would begin reporting this September.
Though Johnson has not made a financial contribution to Obama or other Democratic candidates, he has been one of the most radically liberal advocates for universal health care in all of network news. In 1993, he called the Clintons "heroes" for pushing their health care scheme and this year argued the lack of universal coverage is America's "national shame."
These donations, coupled with the fawning coverage of the Obama health care plan, lead MRC President Brent Bozell to dismiss what is peddled to Americans as "news":
"There's nothing benign about giving a megaphone to doctors who have a financial stake in the success of liberals' most aggressive platform in decades. ObamaCare has been pitched, flacked, plugged and practically blessed by every broadcast network since its inception.
ABC, CBS and NBC have no excuse for the applause these doctors have given to promote the largest expansion of government-run healthcare our country has ever seen. They should have to answer for the carcinogenic garbage their appointed cheerleaders have dumped into the homes of Americans who are terrified they won't have the health insurance coverage they want or need. They are propagandists and nothing more."
The full analysis is available at [1] [1]www.MRC.org [1]
Visit www.BusinessAndMedia.org [2] to access the comprehensive report "Uncritical Care" that shows 70% of network coverage promoted the ObamaCare health takeover.