Coverage from the New Orleans Times-Picayune |
How
local news sunk Trumpcare
GUEST
BLOG / By Trudy Lieberman, Columbia Journalism Review--Who
or what was responsible for the failure of the Republican push to replace
Obamacare? A president powerless to back up his claims of being a master
negotiator? A House speaker unable to corral the disparate wings of his caucus?
A bill itself that proved exceedingly unpopular to the majority of Americans?
All of the above certainly played a role, but CJR’s Trudy Lieberman argues for
the influences of another actor: local news.
“The GOP’s decision to pull
the American Health Care Act, which would have repealed most of the major
provisions of Obamacare, reflects in no small measure the groundswell of
opposition from local news outlets,” Lieberman writes. Cataloging opposition to
the bill in newspapers and local television reports from Trump-voting states
including Louisiana, Michigan, Virginia, Montana, and others, Lieberman finds a
mixture of editorials and reported pieces that stirred up objections to the
impact the AHCA would have on local communities.
While national news
centered on Washington infighting and headline numbers, these local outlets
brought the story home to their audiences by focusing on the specific
implications the bill held for their communities. During a week in which it was
easy to get caught up in cable news coverage and factional battles in DC,
Lieberman reminds us that local news retains its influence.
Below, a brief roundup of
some great local reporting, on healthcare and beyond.
BillingsGazette--Impact of Native American communities: The Billings Gazette’s Jayme Fraser examined
how the loss of Medicaid coverage would affect Native Americans, nearly 10,000
of whom had signed up for coverage under Montana’s Medicaid expansion.
Times-Picayune--The
cost for seniors: The New Orleans Times-Picayune’s
Jed Lipinski found that, “Older Louisianians who buy their own health insurance
are likely to pay more under the Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care
Act.”
Baltimore Sun--De
facto segregation in education: For The Baltimore
Sun, Erica L. Green finds “a de facto system of segregation,” even within
schools that appear to be integrated.
Cleveland.com-Expanding
the map in Ohio: After the 2016 election, Cleveland.com
took stock of its failure to foresee the groundswell of support for Donald
Trump. CJR’s Jackie Spinner reports that the result of that introspection is a
new project, “Ohio Matters,” which aims to expand the map of coverage in an
attempt to better understand the state as a whole.
Press-Herald-Covering
the opioid epidemic: The Portland
Press-Herald’s Eric Russell has a deeply reported investigation into the
opioid crisis, which led to an all-time high in overdose deaths in Maine last
year.
Times-Herald--Police
accountability: From Jacksonville, The Florida
Times-Herald’s Ben Conarck continued his investigation into police
practices, reporting that the sheriff’s office spied on protesters in 2016.
Other
Notable Stories
Columbia
Journalism Review--Journalists demand transparency from the
subjects they cover, but when Farai Chideya set out to investigate diversity
statistics of political coverage around the country, she found newsrooms
unwilling to speak with her. Go to CJR for Chideya’s plea for openness.
Washington Post--The
Post’s Margaret Sullivan says CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley is
“abandoning careful neutrality in favor of pointed truth-telling,” and viewers
are taking notice.
NewYork Times--Great idea from The New York Times’s John Koblin and Nick Corasanti, who spent a day
observing the state of the nation though a specific lens in their piece, “One
Nation, Under Fox: 18 Hours With a Network That Shapes America.”
Politico--Over the weekend, Sean Spicer injected himself into another dust-up with the media, saying of Politico reporter Tara Palmeri, “She is an idiot with no real sources.” The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple called it, “another example of the stoop-to-any-levelism of the current White House press operation.”
Alan
Jones Apology-After months spent hyping the baseless
“Pizzagate” story, conspiracy theorist and toothpaste pitchman Alex Jones
offered a carefully worded apology that seemed aimed at heading off legal
action.
-->
No comments:
Post a Comment