Poor Health Coverage/Poor Reporting

Public says news coverage of health care law shortchanges practical information

Pew research says most of us are unhappy with the way the Affordable Care Act is being covered. According to Pew a majority of Americans say the news media’s coverage of the law has been focused on politics and controversies, rather than how it will impact people. By focusing on the rhetoric, the public is being shortchanged on the facts on how the plan will affect them.

The Kaiser Health Track Survey (the source for the survey) suggests the reporting on the issue has resulted in a lack of trust of the media on this issue.

"More than half (53%) of those surveyed say there is not a news media source that they trust for information about the health law; 44% said there were news outlets they trusted. Of those who said they trust one or multiple news sources, 19% cited cable TV, with 10% naming Fox News and 5%  naming CNN. Broadcast TV outlets and newspapers ranked second at 7% each."

I clicked through to the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll. Only 3% trust NPR's coverage and 2% trust PBS' coverage. The coverage of late on NPR has been more about how the ACA will be implemented but, public perception is that public broadcasting's coverage is not to be trusted. This runs counter to public broadcasting's perception that it the nation's most trusted news source.  http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/02/4th-annual-tv-news-trust-poll.html

Stretching the Meaning

This may be a stretch but, an interpretation of the research may be that the public is tired of the partisan politics perpetuated by cable news outlets like Fox, MSNBC and conservative pundits. The controversy is wearing all of us out when the real story is how the ACA is going to work. "How is this change going to affect my health coverage?" Partisan politics and partisan media coverage that fuels the partisan divide is getting us nowhere.