How should the media really handle abortion coverage?

Scott Proietti
sp034211@ohio.edu

Abortion is one of the more sensitive topics for human beings to discuss. There has always been the anti-abortion and pro-aborition rights side on the topic, but we also need to look at how the media covers abortion and how informative they actually are on the topic, because the people deserve to know what's going on in the country. 

The trial of Philadelphia doctor Kermit Gosnell is the most recent abortion-related case that we can look at and see how media coverage, or lack thereof, has affected on the public. The story is receiving a lot of recent media attention for how little media attention the trial is getting outside of Philadelphia. To be completely honest, I only briefly heard of Gosnell's house of horrors when he was initially arrested and when his trial was nearing earlier this year, but have not heard or read anything relating to the trial in recent months. This is a problem for myself, the rest of the public and the media as a whole. Gosnell stands accused of killing seven newborn infants and one mother. 

The Media Research Center in Alexandria, Virginia, is a conservative watchdog group who says the lack of coverage surrounding the case is evident of liberal media bias. The media have long been reported to have a liberal bias when covering news, and the lack of coverage surrounding this case needs to be known by the public. 

“The media elite are passionate about abortion and passionate about defending it,” said Tim Graham, the MRC’s director of media analysis. “This is a story that threatens the abortion rights agenda... It’s bias by omission.” 

How should the public react to Graham's statement? A man is accusing your media -- the main sources used to inform you of what is going on and what you need to know -- of being passionate about abortion and willing to shed attention away from a case involving a man who committed many illegal acts of abortion. This was a bold statement by Graham. The public really needs to think about what he said and gather information for themselves relating to the matter. 

A number of conservative media outlets and news sources overlooked the story. The Weekly Standard and the National Review, two leading conservative magazines, hadn't published anything on the trial. The story has been mainly covered by Fox News and the Associated Press.

Philadelphia Doctor, Kermit Gosnell

Gosnell's "House of Horrors"

I don't think there is clear evidence that the media is using strong liberal bias toward the coverage of Gosnell's trial and case. It is our responsibility as citizens to want to acquire information relating to events happening in the news, and not just rely on certain networks or certain formats of media. 

This case was obviously overlooked on both sides. However, there was still a lot of information relating to the trial on various news formats since Gosnell was arrested in 2011. The media have a lot of very important events to cover each and every day. The Gosnell trial is very important and what he did wasn't totally ethical, but I can see how this case got lost in this dust as time went on since his arrest in 2011. 

Bottom line, the media and the public both dropped the ball on this case. The media should have provided better coverage and the public should have tried to inquire more information.