Ruth Institute Blog

The New York Times has ignored an appalling abuse of human rights in nearby Philadelphia. What explains its indifference to the Kermit Gosnell abortion trial?

by Carolyn Moynihan

One of the most shocking medical malpractice and human rights violations stories in recent US history has been running in a courtroom in Philadelphia for a month but you wouldn’t know that from following NBC, CNN, The New York Times or practically any other major news outlet. The trial of Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell involves a sensational 281-page Grand Jury report and horrific testimonies that should have been making page one headlines the past few weeks, but only in the last few days have most of the country’s major news media paid any attention to it.

Now they are intent on covering their backsides by pointing out that conservative news sites have been silent on the trial as well, and offering threadbare excuses like this one from the executive editor of the Washington Post, Martin Baron: “I wish I could be conscious of all stories everywhere, but I can’t be. Nor can any of us.” Really? Not even stories involving the systematic and deadly exploitation of poor, mainly black women over 30 years and the infanticide of several babies?

Even as the others began beating their breasts, however, the New York Times, which had said nothing about the Gosnell trial since March 19, just after it opened, was defiant. The editorial board, no less, put their heads together and on Saturday published a piece called “Courage on Abortion in Wichita, Kansas” — a tribute to the doctor who has revived the abortion clinic of Dr George Tiller, the abortionist who was shot dead by an extremist four years ago.

Actually, the Times used a similar tactic when the Gosnell scandal first broke in January 2011. As Michael Cook pointed out at the time, they buried the story in the back of the paper and instead prominently displayed a feature that began: “Congratulations, New York City, did you hear the news? … This is officially the abortion capital of America.” You can’t state your priorities more brashly than that.

This latest attempt at diversionary tactics, however, did not come off. A Twitter campaign over the weekend attacking the paper for editorialising about Wichita while ignoring Philadelphia led to two damage control pieces being published on Monday, one from the public editor, Margaret Sullivan, and one from Andrew Rosenthal, the editorial page editor.

Ms Sullivan admitted: “Judged on news value alone, the Gosnell trial deserves more coverage than it’s had, in The Times and elsewhere.” But she dismissed the accusation that its blackout was the result of left-wing media bias favouring abortion rights. “The behavior of news organizations often owes more to chaos theory than conspiracy theory,” she wrote. “I don’t think that editors and reporters got together and decided not to give the Gosnell trial a lot of attention because it would highlight the evils of abortion.” Chaos? At the New York Times? That’s not how it looks when it goes after stories like sex abuse.

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