Congressman Cites Bozell, MRC in Calling Out Media on Gosnell

April 12th, 2013 1:58 PM

The networks continue to censor the horrors revealed in abortionist doctor Kermit Gosnell’s trial, but some members of the House of Representatives haven’t kept silent – and they cited the Media Research Center.

On April 11, Representative Chris Smith, R-NJ, demanded accountability from the national media. He began his speech on the floor, asking, “Mr. Speaker, will the decades-long major national news media cover-up of the brutality –and violence – of abortion methods ever end?” Rep. Smith called media reticence an “indefensible silence” that threatens “other women and children at other abortion mills [who] might be at risk.”

As he cited journalists who did report the case, Rep. Smith mentioned the MRC by choosing an Investors Business Daily article and read, “According to the Media Research Center, in one week Rice received 41 minutes of air time on ABC, CBS and NB in 36 separate news stories. Gosnell received zero coverage…” Rice is Mike Rice, the Rutgers basketball coach fired over video of him bullying and berating his players.

Though not voiced on the floor, he recognized Media Research Center President Brent Bozell’s efforts and again referred to the MRC’s Culture and Media Institute’s study in his published transcript:

In a letter sent by Media Research Center President Brent Bozell and twenty prominent leaders call on the broadcast networks to stop censoring coverage of the trial, pointing out that as of April 4th, since the trial began ABC, CBS and NBC have given the story zero coverage in their morning and evening news shows.

Rep. Smith accused the media of willfully repressing the news, questioning, “Why the censorship? Gosnell’s “house of horrors” trial fails to attract any serious and meaningful national news reporting.”

He finished his speech with a continued focus on the media:

When will the media blackout stop? …Or will the media continue to censor this trial of the century, because it exposes an all too inconvenient truth that not only are unborn children destroyed in these killing centers, but that even babies who survive the abortion can’t escape the deadly hand of the child predator.

The MRC’s Culture and Media Institute first noted the absence of coverage in the beginning of April and later exposed the media via research finding zero minutes dedicated to the Gosnell case by the three networks: ABC, CBS and NBC.