On August 31st, Dan Eggen of the Washington post wrote an article containing factual errors, errors which are emblematic of the media's failure to properly cover the health insurance reform debate.
The article in question purported to describe the kick-off of Organizing for America's nationwide health insurance reform bus tour.
From Eggen's From the Washington Post
The initiative began Wednesday with a rally at a labor hall in Phoenix that featured the Obama sunrise logo and placards that became fixtures of the 2008 presidential campaign.
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The DNC kickoff rally in Phoenix attracted about 1,200 reform supporters, but a raucous meeting on the other side of town hosted by Obama's former presidential campaign rival Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) attracted hundreds more -- most of whom were loudly opposed to Democratic reform proposals.
I had a friend on that bus tour, and he was at the kickoff rally. He asked me to check on coverage of the McCain rally that was not "on the other side of town" but was in fact practically across the street. When I read the Washington Post piece, I shouted out loud. Something along the lines of "You bastards!" Here is what the Associated Press had to say about the McCain rally:
McCain speaks with angry crowd at Ariz. town hall
By AMANDA LEE MYERS (AP) – Aug 26, 2009
PHOENIX — Sen. John McCain met with an angry crowd at a town-hall meeting about health care reform Wednesday, sometimes having to fight to talk and telling one woman who wouldn't stop yelling that she had to leave.
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After McCain opened it up to questioning, one man angrily pointed at him and asked the senator why he deserves a better health care plan than him.
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When McCain was trying to answer questions from reporters after the town hall, one audience member yelled at him that he gets hundreds of thousands of dollars from insurance companies every year.
In a voice of feigned surprise, McCain said "Really? I didn't know that."
Here is the request I sent to the Washington Post:
You published a piece with FALSE and misleading information. This characterizes the media's faulty coverage of the health care debate. It is misleading, it is professionally negligent if not incompetent, and it demands both a retraction and an explanation.
Your paper erroneously described a McCain rally as anti-health care reform when in fact it was angrily PRO health care reform. The Associated Press somehow managed to accurately cover the rally, something at which your newspaper failed utterly.
I am prepared to escalate this as far as I must if I continue to receive no response from your newspaper. I have already emailed the author, Dan Eggen, as well as both the complaints dept AND the letters to the editor.
Explain yourselves please. It is not a complicated request. Your newspaper is clearly at fault and, considering the importance of this debate, you ought to clearly and loudly correct the record.
I still await the Washington Post's response. Dan Eggen deserves to be censured if not fired for his laziness, and the Post must apologize for contributing to the media focusing on a few loudly squeaking wheels and not properly depicting the popular support for health insurance reform.
Damn it.