No, they aren’t right about the Gosnell story. If you’ve never heard of the Gosnell story, it’s not because of a coverup by the liberal mainstream media. It’s probably because you failed to pay attention to the copious coverage among pro-choice and feminist journalists, as well as the big news organizations, when the news first broke in 2011. There would be something rich, if it weren’t so infuriating, about these (almost uniformly male, as it happens) reporters and commentators scrambling to break open this shocking untold story. You know, the one that was written about here, here and here, to name some disparate sources.
Just a few notes:
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Though the New York Times ran three brief stories when the Gosnell story broke in 2011, they have, as of this writing, only mentioned the trial in one story just when it started, on March 18: not a word since.
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The Washington Post’s health issues reporter directly says she’s not covering the Gosnell trial because it’s just a local issue with no broader significance.
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As for the commentators on the lack of coverage of the Gosnell trial being “almost uniformly male,” well, there’s this woman and this woman and this woman and this woman and this woman and this woman. And that’s just the result of two minutes’ googling.
So so ahead, Irin Carmon, just say stuff. Your audience won’t bother to find out whether any of it is true.
But Carmon is right about one big thing: that seriously left and passionately pro-choice people have covered the story. As Ross Douthat tweeted earlier today: “Gap in Gosnell coverage between lefty blogs and MSM reflects the difference between consistent pro-Roe view and pro-choice self-deception. In consistent pro-Roe view, Gosnell just makes case for having more doctors trained/willing/brave enough to perform safe late-term abortions.” And Matt Frost added, “One side sees the Gosnell case, thinks: ‘abortion is an atrocity.’ Other side says, 'abortion is too unsafe.’ The 'center’ just can’t look.”