With all of the healthcare talk going on in Washington I wanted to look back a few years. It was always particularly interesting to me seeing how the media framed the issue of healthcare reform. Although there were many disparaging points of view on the issue, there was a general consensus that the system was in need of serious reforms. Another emerging consensus was the fact that a big chunk of Americans believed the government should make sure that all Americans had access to quality healthcare insurance. The article that I read regarding media coverage found that the media did a very poor job of having substantive policy debates. They rely heavily on a study conducted by Pew that looked at thousands of articles covering the debate. They found that the majority of media coverage was dedicated towards political strategy and not about the actual law. I suspect this might be a reason as to why many Americans are not fully informed about the Affordable Care Act and its mission. What do you think of the horrendous media coverage during this contentious debate?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/22/health-care-reform-media_n_620892.html
Ernesto, I think this is a topic that should be discussed in a more proper and informative manner in the news. Media stations are definitely one-sided when it comes to the issue of healthcare. While I do not totally agree with the Affordable Care Act, I do believe there are some good parts to it. When you turn on Fox News or hear a Republican talk, you rarely hear what it good about the bill, only what is bad about it. Then you have the Democrats praising it without addressing real underlying issues with it. The recent issue with the Healthcare.gov website is another prime example of the issue of healthcare. The Republicans are bashing Obama and Secretary Sebelius for releasing the website with all of the flaws that it had, and the Democrats are kind of just letting it slide by and continue to give the Act nothing but praise. I certainly do agree that this issue should be discussed more properly so that the American people can be better informed on what the real facts are. Good post.
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