And oddly, the news organizations including NPR this morning have prefaced stories or made the hinge of the story the fact that public support is "plummeting". The number of reform supporters is beginning to outnumber the number of protesters at these town halls. Unions are threatening congress persons with primary challenges and the story we get from the media is the same--support is falling.

It doesn't surprise me in general since media outlets tend to just circulate what they hear from each other, and it's all about the drama, the challenge to them. We all know that. But I'm surprised to hear NPR getting it wrong a day after this poll's results were released.

I too have become greatly disillusioned by NPR over the course of the health reform debate. At first I figured that it was simply that I was coming at it from my own pro-reform vantage point, but the more I listened it became clear that their reporting was definitely right-leaning. They would have senators on to discuss aspects of it, and they were always Repubs - Kyl, Grassley, and Gregg. It's possible that they've had others (Dems) but as I stopped listening to them about a week ago I have no way of knowing. But, seemingly from the get-go, NPR has seemed, on it's 'Morning Edition' show and even 'Diane Rehm', to hold the public option in a slightly contemptuous regard. As someone else pointed out, after last weekend all NPR covered on Monday of Sebelius was her initial 'non-essential public option' statement, and did not cover the subsequent 'walking back' and clarifications. Then they had on Cokie Roberts to decry the public option as some kind of pipe-dream of the 'far-left'.

So, yeah - hows 'bout this poll, Cokie? Or the Rasmussen poll?

Screw NPR.

Single Payer is THE BEST option.

There are still insurance companies operating in Canada, France and England, eh?

What I am enjoying immensely, no, actually laughing hysterically about, over these last few days, is the fact that Conservatives believe they have won. If you've had a chance to visit any conservative blogs, or hear any talk radio, the common theme is "the Democratic meltdown".

They are busy patting themselves on their backs, and probably going back to the insurance lobby for their just rewards, for a job half-done. Try as they might, they simply have not scared America enough.

That, plus the fact that reality cannot be replaced by lies when ten percent of their constituency is laid off and without real insurance.

To add to that (though, not nearly as surprising) Washington Post has an article out about their latest poll with ABC news (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/20/AR2009082004305.html?hpid=topnews), in which they repeatedly refer to Obama's leadership numbers dropping amid "opposition" though never clearly defining what the opposition to reform is: is it unhappy Progressives or crazy wingnuts.

They also report that support amongst seniors for the public option has dropped sharply since June, without mention that since June, seniors have been told that that public option is a plot to kill them. If the media cannot be bothered to tell the truth, then health reform is dead b/c at the end of the day, the media is still in control of what the majority of Americans *think* is going on.

Did anyone here see the crazy lady on Jon Stewart last night?

When local public radio is fundraising we can call and tell the volenteers we would be donating if health reform news was covered correctly. Then don't donate...message sent.

Maybe congress will let this fall apart. If they do, we should shout single payer until we get it. It would be better to have no reform that reform without the public option.

The other part of this is that the media reports those polls above while saying that the numbers have dropped from what they were in the past. True, but since the major news outlets could never be bothered to talk about those polls when all of this started, it's interesting that they're turning to them now--except, of course, that their goal is not to convery accurate information to the American people, but to craft their narrative to gain ratings. If health reform fails, they will gladly report all of these polls about overwhelming support and wonder why oh why didn't the government listen to its people.

PPP wrote:

What I am enjoying immensely, no, actually laughing hysterically about, over these last few days, is the fact that Conservatives believe they have won.

Me too. And it's causing them to get lazy and tip their hands on what they intend to do.

Eric
I saw her last night - still have to get over to the website to see the entire interview. She was so confident she did not let Jon's facts get in the way! And he could not hide his disgust with her in a certain way....He is always at his best with those with whom he disagrees

There's a great link from Daily Kos this morning. It's something that I have talked about on other blogs. It's how media- print, tv and radio operate. Reporters use a tactic called reverse-engineered journalism. I worked in tv media nad have written for newscasts and created PSAs. I have also written and produced for radio. So what the author is saying is very true.

I am shocked I was able to find this on Daily Kos

Check out the link: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/21/770293/-Morning-Feature:-Reverse-Engineered-Journalism-(Plus-Kossascopes)

And to shed a bit more light on NPR - I went hunting and found this - granted, opinion based, but illuminating for me:

http://nprcheck.blogspot.com/2009/07/its-whats-on-table.html

It's unfortunate, but over the past couple of years I have been frustrated more and more often with NPR allowing Republicans to spout off lies and providing little or no resistance. Not sure what's happening to them over there.

I saw that crazy woman on TDS last night too. I was surprised Stewart could sound reasonable since she was just providing fiction. It's common from the right, though, to look for keywords in a document or speech and present a twisted, bizarro interpretation just based on the keywords and not the context or the, you know, actual meaning. Nut job.

NPR is doing what every other previously reputable news source has done: Try to prove they are not liberal in a futile attempt to skim off some of the faux faithful. Truly sad that they forogt it's ok to take the side of truth.

RE the r's seeing what they want to in numbers, from Colbert last night: "A 51% minority still supports the President while a 37% majority does not."