Rare is the week I dip into national news in the Plant City Observer. We’re a hyperlocal community news outlet, and 99% of the time, we leave the national headlines to the others.
But, when those outlets have flat-out failed to deliver information you deserve, I am compelled to dip my pen in that ink.
There’s an old saying in the news industry: If it bleeds, it leads. Translation: Any story involving death should be considered for page-one material. And in this day and age, top billing on websites, the 11 o’clock news, Facebook, Twitter and anywhere else information is consumed.
I’ve always considered the adage a little morbid. It conjures images of reporters jockeying for the best vantage point at an interstate pileup.
But, after last week’s firestorm regarding national press outlets’ gross and blatant disregard of the Dr. Kermit Gosnell trial, I’d advise some of those editors to take that saying and tattoo it, backward, on their foreheads.
Unfamiliar with the name, Dr. Kermit Gosnell? Don’t feel bad; some here at our office didn’t know of him, either. Here’s a quick recap: Gosnell is the Philadelphia abortionist charged with murdering one woman and seven babies through late-term abortion procedures. Suspecting illegal prescription-drug sales, federal officials raided in February 2012 Gosnell’s clinic, Women’s Medical Society, which had been open for more than 30 years.
Once inside, investigators learned immediately the drugs were the least of their concerns.
They found a freezer with the bodies of 47 unborn babies. They found as many as 30 jars containing feet. They found remains in other containers, as well: milk jugs, orange juice cartons and cat-food containers. They found semi-conscious women covered with blood-stained blankets. They found a flea-infested cat and feline feces on the stairs. The air stank of urine.
It doesn’t stop there. Some women had contracted venereal diseases from the unsterilized equipment the clinic used, and investigators even discovered untrained employees had performed procedures.
What’s more, the state medical board had received multiple complaints about Gosnell’s clinic throughout the years, but state officials had not inspected it since 1993. Gosnell also is accused of falsifying medical records to show no abortions had been performed beyond the legal limit of 24-and-one-half weeks into a pregnancy.
Investigators charged Gosnell with murdering seven viable babies, as well as Karnamaya Mongar, a woman who had gone to Gosnell for an abortion and died under his care.
Gosnell’s trial began last month, but as the grisly details began to surface — unspeakable acts with a pair of scissors — the national press remained silent.
There seems to exist a criteria that determines whose blood leads.
JD Mullane, a columnist for the Bucks County Courier Times, The Intel and the Burlington County (N.J.) Times and one of the only journalists covering the trial last week, tweeted April 12, this message: “I sat through today’s testimony. It is sickening beyond the most morbid Hollywood horror.”
Inexplicably, the Gosnell case didn’t seem to fit within the guidelines piloting MSNBC, CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, etc. Somehow, despite the bloodshed, the state and federal oversight, and the myriad of other angles that provide an editor’s field day here, we got coverage of Brad Paisley’s collaboration with LL Cool J and Justin Bieber’s ridiculous message at the Anne Frank House.
Conservatives argue the blackout was deliberate — an intentional blind eye to keep the horrors of abortion tucked away in biohazard bins. Liberal-leaning journalists battled back, arguing the horrors uncovered at the Gosnell clinic are evidence of a need for safe, legal places for women to go for these procedures.
But, the point here isn’t the abortion debate, just like the Sandy Hook tragedy wasn’t about gun control. This is a story about eight murders and the trial of the man accused of those murders. And, the verdict delivered at the end of this trial needs to have ramifications that affect our country moving forward.
Those babies should not have died for nothing.
Throughout last weekend, the firestorm regarding the lack of coverage boiled over. The final spark: Mullane’s April 12 photo of rows of empty seats designated for the press in the courtroom.
By the end of the weekend, several major news outlets pledged coverage. Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron admitted he was not aware of the story until April 11. Liz Fischer, a spokeswoman for NBC News, told the Post the network was aware of the story but did not provide details about when coverage would appear. MSNBC spokeswoman Lauren Skowronski said her network doesn’t cover criminal trials as thoroughly as others. Post health policy reporter Sarah Kliff — who had covered the Susan G. Komen Foundation/Planned Parenthood funding story last year — told Patheos.com blogger Mollie Hemingway the Gosnell story was a local crime story and, thus, not her beat.
As I write this on the morning of April 15, Kermit Gosnell’s name doesn’t appear anywhere on the front pages of MSNBC.com, CNN.com or NYTimes.com. Locally, the story is nowhere to be found under TBO.com’s “U.S. and World” tab. And when you Google “Kermit Gosnell,” the top returns — ludicrously — are about the media blackout itself.
This will change. I suspect continued pressure from Mullane, Hemingway and others will fill those empty courtroom seats. As the trial resumed Monday, Mullane reported the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Magazine all had reporters present.
I also suspect Gosnell’s name will be in the public consciousness soon. But, unfortunately, the trial will be known as much for the media’s mishandling as it will be for the victims — seven of whom never even had a name.
Editor’s note: This column was written before the Boston Marathon attacks. Obviously, a tragedy of that magnitude deserves extensive coverage in news outlets charged with covering the nation.