Opinion: The Gosnell murder trial: An exercise in Liberal media bias

News of the approaching Gosnell trial began to appear on conservative websites in January, but as the gruesome proceedings entered its fourth week, much of the liberal media was ignoring the proceedings.

Breitbart.com posted a picture showing the roped off press area of the Gosnell courtroom; it was empty.

For some liberals, the trial of “Doctor” Kermit Gosnell is about abortion rights, but as liberal columnist Kirstin Powers (who is pro-choice) wrote the other day, it’s about barbaric murder:

“Infant beheadings. Severed baby feet in jars. A child screaming after it was delivered alive during an abortion procedure. Haven’t heard about these sickening accusations?

It’s not your fault. Since the murder trial of Pennsylvania abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell began March 18, there has been precious little coverage of the case that should be on every news show and front page. The revolting revelations of Gosnell’s former staff, who have been testifying to what they witnessed and did during late-term abortions, should shock anyone with a heart.

NBC-10 Philadelphia reported that, Stephen Massof, a former Gosnell worker, “described how he snipped the spinal cords of babies, calling it, ‘literally a beheading. It is separating the brain from the body.” One former worker, Adrienne Moton, testified that Gosnell taught her his “snipping” technique to use on infants born alive. “

Massof, who, like some of the other witnesses, had himself pleaded guilty to serious crimes, testified “It would rain fetuses. Fetuses and blood all over the place.”

The Associated Press published a story about the Massof testimony that he saw 100 babies born and then snipped: “Staffer describes chaos at PA abortion clinic.” Snipped? That sounds like a haircut! These live babies were murdered!

There has been scant coverage of the trial of this barbaric monster who killed live babies at will, practiced his “medicine” in squalid conditions (according to the nurses had nicer rooms for the white patients because the doctor said whites would complain). Gosnell also killed a woman during a botched procedure.

According to the Washington Post earlier this week, the reason the trial hadn’t been covered was they didn’t know about it.

Martin Baron, The Post’s executive editor, said the lack of coverage had nothing to do with bias; instead he offered a more mundane rationale for the newspaper’s lack of coverage: He wasn’t aware of the story until Thursday night April 11 when readers began e-mailing him about it (the trail began mid-March). “I wish I could be conscious of all stories everywhere, but I can’t be,” he said. “Nor can any of us.”

He pointed to the fact the media appears to be responding to the criticism. CNN devoted multiple segments to the story Friday. CBS said it plans two segments and MSNBC discussed the trial on its “Morning Joe” program Monday. The Post ran a full AP report on it in Saturday’s editions; the paper has also assigned its own reporter to cover the trial in Philadelphia this week.

“We talked about the story during the day on Friday and decided that, in fact, the story warranted our staff attention because of the seriousness and scope of the alleged crimes and because this was a case that resonated in policy arguments and national politics,” said Baron. “In retrospect, we regret not having staffed the trial sooner. But, as you know, we don’t have unlimited resources, and . . . there is a lot of competition for our staff’s attention.”

Added Baron, “We never decide what to cover for ideological reasons, no matter what critics might claim. Accusations of ideological motives are easy to make, even if they’re not supported by the facts.”

Isn’t it incredible how the mostly part-time journalists in the blog world knew all about the Gosnell trial but a large newsgathering organization like the Washington Post knew nothing? How did they find out about the Jodie Arias trial in Texas, but not the serial killer on trial in Pennsylvania?

How can the Washington Post which editorially supports Barack Obama’s gun control push because it’s “for the children” but knows nothing about a mass murder trial where up to 100 newborn babies had their spinal cords severed with a scissors.

The Post offered another supposed excuse; the right wing media didn’t cover it either—that too was a lie –coverage began over two years ago.

Michelle Malkin wrote in a column on January 21, 2011:

In the City of Brotherly Love, hundreds of babies were murdered by a scissors-wielding monster over four decades. Whistleblowers informed public officials at all levels of the wanton killings of innocent life. But a parade of government health bureaucrats and advocates protecting the abortion racket looked the other way — until, that is, a Philadelphia grand jury finally exposed the infanticide factory run by abortionist Kermit B. Gosnell, M.D., and a crew of unlicensed, untrained butchers masquerading as noble providers of women’s “choice.”

Columnist Mark Steyn, February 10, 2011:

As I was leaving Fox News last night, I glanced up at the monitor and caught Juan Williams expressing mystification to Sean Hannity as to why Republicans in Congress were wasting the country’s time on a “little thing” like abortion.

Gee, I dunno. Maybe it’s something to do with a mass murderer in Pennsylvania, or Planned Parenthood clinics facilitating the sex trafficking of minors. From the Office of the District Attorney in Philadelphia:

Viable babies were born. Gosnell killed them by plunging scissors into their spinal cords. He taught his staff to do the same.

This is a remarkable moment in American life: A man is killing actual living, gurgling, bouncing babies on an industrial scale – and it barely makes the papers.

Here’s Rich Lowry, Feb. 4, 2011:

The nightmarish case of the Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell and the sting video of a counselor at a Planned Parenthood clinic cooperating with a supposed pimp, show the dignity of women is decidedly secondary. The 261-page grand-jury report in the Gosnell case could have been written by Stephen King. Gosnell’s gruesome operation was, on its own terms, highly efficient. During the day, his assistants administered labor-inducing drugs to pregnant women, overwhelmingly poor minorities. Then the good doctor showed up in the evening. On some women, he performed traditional abortions, occasionally butchering them in the process. Other women had delivered babies before he arrived. Here, he performed post-birth abortions–

The Washington Post and the other Liberal outlets were very quick to pick up David Corn’s tape of Mitch McConnell’s office that turned out to be falsely transcribed but they had no idea about the trial of a mass murderer, which conservative outlets have been reporting about for over three years

Does Kirsten Powers have an alert system that much better than the WAPO and other liberal outlets? Or is there a reluctance to cover the story because liberal outlets believe the case is about abortion—it’s not. This story is about the murder of an adult woman and newborn infants.

Jeff Dunetz is the Editor/Publisher of the political blog “The Lid” (www.jeffdunetz.com).