Posted by Damozel | So you think Hillary supporters are just whining when we complain
about the way the media twist and distort the facts reality-show style
to cast her at every turn as the villain?
Let's consider the latest media allegations against her: that Hillary misrepresented the facts concerning the death of a young pregnant woman from Ohio whom Hillary alleged had died as a result of being unable to pay for necessary medical care. .In fact, Clinton was relaying the facts correctly; she just hadn't been told all the details. And in fact, the details didn't really matter to the point she was trying to make.
There is some satisfaction, though not nearly eniugh, in seeing that the journalist who helped set the story in motion forced to set the record straight.
"The aunt of a young pregnant woman who died after a hospital told her she needed to pay $100 up front for care said in an interview on Monday that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been telling the story accurately on the campaign trail," Anne Kornblut now concedes.
For weeks, Clinton repeated an anecdote she heard in Ohio on Feb. 28 involving a young woman who lost her baby and later died because she lacked health insurance and did not have $100 to gain access to a nearby hospital.
But over the weekend, Clinton came under fire when officials at O'Bleness Memorial Hospital, after reading about her remarks, demanded that she stop recounting it because the patient, Trina Bechtel, was admitted there and did have insurance.
That part, it turns out, is true. But so is Clinton's claim that Bechtel did not get care at another hospital that wanted a $100 pre-payment before seeing her, according to the young woman's aunt, Lisa Casto. "It's a true story," said Casto, 53. (The Trail)
The Deputy Sheriff from Pomeroy Ohio who told her the story in the first place says that she repeated it pretty much as he related it to her.(Minn. Star Tribune) In fact, he said so to the AP a few days ago.
In a March 26 phone interview with The Associated Press, Holman said he had told Clinton the story in essentially the same way she was retelling it in her speeches. He said he knew the Bachtel story only second hand, and lacked several details (Minn. Star Tribune).
It's true that Hillary didn't have the whole story. But, as the dead girl's aunt affirmed, the story was true in essence.
Clinton erred in telling audiences that the Ohio woman lacked insurance when seeking help for her troubled pregnancy. But according to Casto's account, Bachtel's medical tragedy began with circumstances very close to the essence of Clinton's now-abandoned account: the lack of insurance created a $100 barrier to needed medical attention close to home. (Minn. Star Tribune; emphasis added)
In fact, the people who actually distorted the facts were the journalists who jumped on an unrelated fact without further investigation as evidence of Hillary's alleged 'credibility gap.' Digby explains exactly how Andrea Mitchell and Anne Kornblut used these facts as the basis of a 'story' about the public's perception of Hillary----a perception which they themselves were busily generating and disseminating.
Susan UnPC at No Quarter---which provided vital missing information to fill in the gaps Kornblut and Mitchell glossed over--- writes:
On MSNBC today, Andrea Mitchell discussed the “hospital” story with Anne Kornblut , beginning with an assumption that Hillary told the story incorrectly. As she introduced Kornblut, Ms. Mitchell said the story was “NOT TRUE” (a wild assumption about a story not confirmed). Andrea Mitchell — and every other reporter who has reported with the same biased assumptions — must retract their assumptive statements and apologize to Hillary Clinton and the campaign. (No Quarter)
Oh, what does it matter? They're only journalists! It's only a misunderstanding! And you can wipe a misunderstanding right out with a quick note setting the record straight, am I right? After all, it's just the press. It's not their job to report facts anymore; they're just there to channel the discourse. Who in their right mind believes anything they say anymore?
Fewer and fewer people, it seems. But in a fiercely contested election, a little random misrepresentation can have a disproportionate impact, as these people well know---and seemingly rejoice in.
Anyway, here's Digby, pointing out the correct view of this neat little demonstration of the media's packaging of Hillary:
You can hate Clinton or love her, but this is the lowest form of campaign journalism and it should be condemned. At this point they have said, over and over again, that Clinton told "untruths" or "exaggerated" when the fact is that she repeated a story she heard from a citizen -- a story which, without knowing the name of the person, which she didn't, could not be verified by her campaign.
And why should it? The sheriff told her this story on camera, it's completely believable because every single day something like this happens multiple times across the country, she used no names, accused nobody specifically and didn't claim to have personal knowledge of the story. She repeated something that was told to her. It's not a lie or an untruth or fundamentally misleading in any way....
Clinton was repeating a story about bad health care which she heard on the campaign trail from an American citizen. She wasn't tooting her own horn or putting down her opponent in the telling of it. She was illustrating the plight of the uninsured in this country, which even if it turns out to not be specifically correct in the details, is certainly not something that doesn't happen every day to somebody in this country.. (Digby)
But the devil's in the details, right? Or at least when a Clinton is involved. When it's the press reporting a 'story', so-called, to the public, the details don't seem to matter as much.
The lack of facts backing up the accusation of Clinton lying are bad enough, but the justifications for flogging it are stunning. Kornblut and Mitchell admit up front, and without even the slightest bit of self-awareness as journalists, that this is about "perception" not reality. She blithely admits that both Al Gore and John Kerry were brought low by similar "perceptions" in exactly the same way. There is not even the slightest acknowledgment that these "perceptions" are often created by the political opponents of the candidates and then faithfully disseminated by their little minions in the press as what Kornblut admits are "storylines.".... (Digby)
Right. Just like reality shows, our news today has to have a storyline. And Hillary's MSNBC storyline is 'conniving political villainness destined to be defeated by young heroic newcomer, in the manner of a Disney film.'
Whatever the case, it's bad journalism, thick with innuendo and short on facts and used as an example of a character defect of a Democrat, creating a self-perpetuating "perception" that justifies the "storyline."... (Digby)
This sort of journalism, Digby says, "is what's killing our political system and what gets people like John McCain and George W. Bush elected." But as anyone who is paying attention knows, "[t]he Clinton Rules state that if any part of a story is proven true, the entire story is true. The corollary is that if any part of a story about a Republican is proved to be false then the entire story is false."
Digby is worried about how this sort of distortion benefits Republicans. But as Talk Left points out, certain Obama blogs had a field day with the story.
And while you're contemplating the influence on the once proud American press or reality-show style story lines, you might as well check out this video posted at Talk Left under the heading How the MSM Treats Hillary Clinton.
Do you still doubt that the media treats Hillary Clinton unfairly? Really? Even my 80-year old mother in South Carolina, who has never voted for a Democrat for president in her life and who isn't that fond of Hillary, knows it. "Oooooh, yes," she said. "They treat her just awful."
And it's definitely time to take a stand to make that different. Here's a start.
Thanks to No Quarter for fact checking the 'fact checkers.'
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Thanks for covering this topic. I wrote the story at NoQuarter (thanks for help from Fleaflicker and SusanUnPC) and I'll be updating the information as we go along.
When considering the update from WaPo that Holzer was who she owed the money to, we can obviously conclude they were the ones who denied Trina Bachtel. It is unfortunate in the attempt to destroy Clinton, many have overlooked that the media ran over 2 dead bodies and a small town to be as vicious as they could trying to call a candidate a liar.
I don't care to advocate for or against Clinton, but I believe these outlets owe Trina's family an apology and an apology to Bryan Holman.
Additionally I'm an independent journalist and I used the materials provided by the media outlets themselves. I just didn't have a motivation outside telling the accurate story. By not having an underlying motivation, calling someone a liar or releaving them of their guilt, I was able to piece together information with an open mind. And I'm not done yet.
The story is: A young lady and child are dead because a hospital placed their credit rating above care. And Sen. Clinton is correct about the moral of the story when she says, "thousands of dollars were spent over not having $100".
The fact is, Trina Bachtel didn't have insurance when she went to Holzer. She was turned away because of a previous debt. She got insurance by the time she was at O'Bleness. O'Bleness violated HIPAA laws by telling the press (unprovoked) that they were innocent. I'm thankful they did because now we can see what really happened and hopefully we'll see some changes so we don't have to report a story of another Trina Bachtel.
Bless her family and Deputy Bryan Holman, and of course the journalists who dare tell the truth instead of follow the gaggle of hyenas.
BigK
Posted by: BigKahuna | April 08, 2008 at 03:46 AM