Well… not THAT dirty work, but pretty close.
In an article released in today’s Politico, reporter Kate Nocera [1] excitedly declared to her readers that she had “exclusively obtained” a letter signed by 27 liberal groups addressed to Congress calling on lawmakers to continue the federal financial support for Planned Parenthood in the wake of the undercover investigation conducted by Live Action [2]. [3]
Ms. Nocera’s article is peppered with quotes from the exclusively obtained letter, from Media Matters and from People for the American Way. Missing is a quote from Live Action, the target of thesmear campaign which Big Journalism [4] has learned was orchestrated by Media Matters on a conference call yesterday afternoon. That’s right, in her one-sided article that reads almost like a press release from Planned Parenthood, Ms. Nocera didn’t bother to get a reaction from Lila Rose or Live Action.
By just regurgitating claims from Planned Parenthood and their supporters, Politico has allowed the liberal spin on the Live Action video investigation to reside on their once-respected pages as if it was fact. I wonder if that was one of the conditions for Ms. Nocera’s “exclusive.”
In its original form, the Politico article contained this line:
Three more videos were released just today and show young teens asking how to obtain birth control without their parents knowing, or without proof of legal U.S. residency.
That really makes the video content seem pretty innocuous, doesn’t it? Except it is completely wrong. The videos released today [5] show an actor, not in his teens, identifying himself to Planned Parenthood staffers as “a sex worker” and he has girls that he “manages.” He goes on to receive detailed information for the treatment of STDs, contraception, and abortions for what he identifies as multiple underage girls, some in the country illegally. The Planned Parenthood workers explain that the underage girls won’t be able to get a standard abortion without I.D., but they helpfully explain that they could get the “morning after pill” without any problem.
Advised of the erroneous description of today’s videos, Politico has revised the offending line to this laughable version:
Three more videos were released just today seemingly show workers advising undercover anti-abortion activists on how young women can obtain birth control without their parents knowing, or without proof of legal U.S. residency.
We’ve documented [6] Politico’s [7] left-ward [8] drift [9]extensively here at Big Journalism, but this article is a new low in advocacy journalism, further souring a brand that pretends to play things down the middle. One wonders if Ms. Nocera was on yesterday’s conference call set up by Media Matters to get their Planned Parenthood talking points and strategy straight.
Politico Editor-In-Chief John Harris should immediately investigate this latest departure from journalistic standards and find out just how close the ties are between Ms. Nocera and Media Matters. And, more importantly, he should find out who decided to run with this story full of errors and mis-characterizations hurled against Live Action without even giving them the benefit of giving a response.
I’ve asked Ms. Nocera, via e-mail, if it is her or Politico’s policy to run a politically volatile article from just one side, like this was, without seeking a response from the other side. I have yet to hear back from her, but we will post her response when we get it.
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