Rense: ABC Caught- Schiavo Poll Distorted

[Guest guest]

Comments?

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

ABC Caught - Schiavo Poll Distorted

By Michelle Malkin

3-23-5

 

http://www.rense.com/general63/abcc.htm

 

However you feel about the Terri Schiavo case, one fact is

indisputable: The mainstream media (MSM) coverage of the matter has

been abysmal.

 

On a fundamental matter of life and death, the MSM heavyweights have

proven themselves utterly incapable of reporting fairly. Take a

widely publicized ABC News poll released on Monday that supposedly

showed strong public opposition to any Washington intervention in

Terri's case. Here is how the spinmasters framed the main poll

question:

 

" As you may know, a woman in Florida named Terri Schiavo suffered

brain damage and has been on life support for 15 years. Doctors say

she has no consciousness and her condition is irreversible. Her

parents and her husband disagree on whether or not she should be

kept on life support. In cases like this who do you think should

have final say, (the parents) or (the spouse)? "

 

A follow-up question asked:

 

" If you were in this condition, would you want to be kept alive, or

not? "

 

The problem is that, contrary to what ABC News told those polled,

Terri Schiavo is not on " life support " and has never been on " life

support. " The loaded phrase evokes images of a comatose patient

being artificially sustained by myriad machines and pumps and wires.

Terri was on a feeding tube. A feeding tube is not a ventilator.

Terri can breathe just fine on her own.

 

And as many of her medical caretakers and parents have argued, if

given proper rehabilitation, Terri could learn to chew and swallow

on her own as well. She is disabled, not dead.

 

But ABC News did not see fit to inform either the poll takers or its

viewers of the truth. Instead, it misled them -- and the result was

a poll response that produced -- voila! -- " broad public

disapproval " for any government intervention to spare Terri from

slowly starving to death. Blogger Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters

noted: " Either ABC is completely incompetent in conducting research,

or they have attempted to fool their viewers and readership with

false polling that essentially lies about the case in question.

Since when does ABC conduct push polling for euthanasia? "

 

Imagine how the poll results might have turned out if ABC News had

made clear to participants that Terri is not terminally ill. Not in

excruciating pain. Capable of saying " Mommy " and " Help me. " And

of " getting the feeling she's falling " or getting " excited, " in her

husband's own testimony, when her head is not held properly.

 

Imagine how the poll results might have turned out if ABC News had

informed participants that in a sworn affidavit, registered nurse

Carla Sauer Iyer, who worked at the Palm Garden of Largo

Convalescent Center in Largo, Fla., while Terri Schiavo was a

patient there, testified: " Throughout my time at Palm Gardens,

Michael Schiavo was focused on Terri's death. Michael would

say 'When is she going to die?' 'Has she died yet?' and 'When is

that b---h gonna die?' "

 

Now, if you were in this situation, would you want to be kept alive,

or not?

 

Not to pick on ABC News, but, well, let's. In an attempt to

embarrass Rep. Dave Weldon (R.-Fla.) who noted that withdrawing food

and water from someone like Schiavo was extremely rare, ABC's Jake

Tapper last week featured this counter-quote from Prof. Bill Allen,

of the University of Florida College of Medicine:

 

" Feeding tubes have been removed in the United States for many

years, and it's been a common practice. This has happened in many

cases, probably a hundred thousand times in this country. "

 

" A hundred thousand times " ? There have been a hundred thousand cases

of non-terminally ill, non-brain dead individuals slowly starved and

forced to die in this country? Tapper demanded no proof from his

professor. Instead, he dismissed lawmakers as ignoramuses

contradicted by " experts, " cited the biased ABC News poll cited

above, and tossed it back to Jennings with this slam: " Terri Schiavo

and her family deserved better than the way Congress worked this

week. "

 

Meanwhile, contradicting the experience of every starved child in

Africa and abandoned street animal at your SPCA shelter, the New

York Times informs us: " Experts Say Ending Feeding Can Lead to a

Gentle Death. "

 

Is it any wonder the credibility of the MSM (main stream media) is

withering on the vine?

 

2004 HUMAN EVENTS. .

 

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=6942