Manipulating Media And Health Care Reform

TW: These clips are a twofer for me. One they demonstrate something which continues to fascinate me- how media distorts information, not because they are necessarily politically biased but frequently due merely to ignorance and bias toward "showing both sides". Two because it shows how unbelievably difficult it will be to reform health care in this country, something that must happen else we sink into a morass of inequity and misallocated resources. The Olbermann clip dissects how a politically biased "expert" insinuates herself into a debate facilitated by the politically biased media (Drudge, Fox and Limbaugh) but also the merely lazy (CNN and Bloomberg).

The 2nd clip to me is almost more frustrating, the CNN anchor is blindly pushing "showing both sides" without any apparent knowledge or the topic or for that matter without paying any attention to her own reporter who is basically calling the premise of the "expert" false.