Dragged Kicking and Screaming to Their Own Job

In response to Gosnell and Media Bias:

Remember when journalists reported news to the public, not the other way around? In dribs and drabs, it appears national media are finally being shamed into offering some coverage of the Gosnell trial: 

We will be leading our broadcast tonight with the #Gosnell case @ac360 8pm

— Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) April 12, 2013

In addition to Cooper, Eric Wemple of the Washington Post has extracted a pledge from executive editor Martin Baron to assign a reporter to the trial, quoting Baron’s sheepish admission that “In retrospect, we should have sent a reporter sooner.”

Ya think?

And in what may be the weirdest confessional tweet I’ve ever read, ABC co-anchor Terry Moran calls Gosnell (whom he has never mentioned on air) “probably the most successful serial killer in the history of the world.”

Hey, nice to know, “Scoop.”

Forgive me if I don’t give these born-again newshounds a standing ovation, any more than the IRS applauds somebody when they file their taxed 2 years late. The Gosnell story is exactly the kind our media claims it lives for (“if it bleeds, it leads,” remember?), not one they have to be shamed into acknowledging. “Shame,” though, is probably not the right word; It’s more the panicked embarrassment of an office worker caught sleeping off a drunk in his cubicle, and now offers to work overtime.

So yes, I suppose the media will be covering Gosnell now, but what they’re really covering is their own ass. It will receive the minimum airplay necessary to make it all go away, and be pursued with all enthusiasm of a 6 year old going to the dentist. No roundtable media panels on the story’s “deeper meanings.” With luck, the wingnuts will calm down and the story will fade away in 48 hours.

Then back to a nap in the cubicle.