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Why The Media Blackout On Gosnell?

I can’t leave Philly without linking to Kirsten Powers’s powerful USA Today essay about the horror show of the Dr. Kermit Gosnell trial here. Excerpt: Infant beheadings. Severed baby feet in jars. A child screaming after it was delivered alive during an abortion procedure. Haven’t heard about these sickening accusations? It’s not your fault. Since the murder trial of […]

I can’t leave Philly without linking to Kirsten Powers’s powerful USA Today essay about the horror show of the Dr. Kermit Gosnell trial here. Excerpt:

Infant beheadings. Severed baby feet in jars. A child screaming after it was delivered alive during an abortion procedure. Haven’t heard about these sickening accusations?

It’s not your fault. Since the murder trial of Pennsylvania abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell began March 18, there has been precious little coverage of the case that should be on every news show and front page. The revolting revelations of Gosnell’s former staff, who have been testifying to what they witnessed and did during late-term abortions, should shock anyone with a heart.

NBC-10 Philadelphia reported that, Stephen Massof, a former Gosnell worker, “described how he snipped the spinal cords of babies, calling it, ‘literally a beheading. It is separating the brain from the body.” One former worker, Adrienne Moton, testified that Gosnell taught her his “snipping” technique to use on infants born alive.

Massof, who, like other witnesses, has himself pleaded guilty to serious crimes, testified “It would rain fetuses. Fetuses and blood all over the place.” Here is the headline the Associated Press put on a story about his testimony that he saw 100 babies born and then snipped: “Staffer describes chaos at PA abortion clinic.”

Powers quite rightly wants to know why the media don’t consider this a national disgrace.  More:

This should be front page news. When Rush Limbaugh attacked Sandra Fluke, there was non-stop media hysteria. The venerable NBC Nightly News’ Brian Williams intoned, “A firestorm of outrage from women after a crude tirade from Rush Limbaugh,” as he teased a segment on the brouhaha. Yet, accusations of babies having their heads severed — a major human rights story if there ever was one — doesn’t make the cut.

It is impossible to overestimate how sacred the media hold some sacred cows. I don’t want coverage biased in my direction. I just want some coverage. We’d have some if newsrooms weren’t run by people believed a story that might give aid and comfort to causes favored by social and religious conservatives is therefore of lesser news value. You know?

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