Frontline Fronts for Corporations, Not the Public

[Jefferson23]

Weekend Edition
April 16-18, 2010

By Dr. MARGARET FLOWERS, M.D.


**Margaret Flowers, MD is a pediatrician who serves as the Congressional Fellow for Physicians for National Health Program.



It was with a sense of déjà vu that I watched the latest Frontline documentary about health care. “Obama’s Deal” endeavored to reveal the significant influence of health industry dollars on our political process; however, as in Frontline’s "Sick Around America," the producers did a disservice by the failure to educate the public about the bigger picture of the health care situation in this nation and the range of possible solutions.

Curiously, just as it was in the health “debate,” single payer, improved Medicare for All, was also excluded from the film. The major point of the influence of health industry dollars on the reform process which should have been mentioned is that these dollars were spent in order to restrict the debate and protect industry profits. The lucrative status quo would have been threatened if single payer had been openly discussed because a publicly-financed national health program can provide high quality universal health care and control health care costs, something that a private insurance based system cannot accomplish.

After watching this film, viewers would have no idea that single payer exists or know that there is a strong movement for it. Considering that there have been attempts to push for a national health program for over 100 years in this nation and that, because of a strong grassroots movement, single payer legislation was nearly introduced on the floor of the House in November and was actually introduced on the floor of the Senate for the first time in this nation last December, the omission appears to be intentional.

Those of us in the single payer movement are accustomed to being censored by the corporate media. The reason for our exclusion is known: health insurance and pharmaceutical corporations advertise heavily on these airwaves and wield considerable power over the programming. This was described clearly by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting’s August 2009 piece titled “Single-Payer & Interlocking Directorates: The corporate ties between insurers and media companies” by Kate Murphy.

The producers at Frontline carefully cut single payer out of the film.

remainder in full: http://www.counterpunch.org/flowers04162010.html

[rucky]

1. I love Dr. Flowers...

but in the program, she's shown making the exact same point.

Then again, this is what i love about her. She's always on point - even when she's being carried off in handcuffs.

[truedelphi]

2. "Frontline" couldn't even bring itself to be that critical of the Bush Administration

And its stupid policies. We gave up on that show a long time ago.

Once in a while, like with their portrayal of "The Man Who Knew too much" right after Nine eleven, they produce quality work. But they are the same as all the other media - they are solely in the pocket of the Big CorpoRATions.

[snagglepuss]

9. Fairly early in his admin, bush installed repukes in top postions at PBS, after which were

a number of significant changes.

[OnyxCollie]

14. See Ken Tomlinson for an example.

He was installed as a check against Bill Moyers.

[SocialistLez]

3. The Decline and Fall of Public Broadcasting: Creating Alternative Media

I suggest anyone who cares about the media read it.

It's less than 100 pages.

[Jefferson23]

8. Thanks for the tip. n/t

[Skink]

4. There was one snippett of Obama saying we have achieved insurance reform.

no mention that medicare for all is now at the forefront for a public option. I think Obamas campaign for a second term should revolve around it.

[cui bono]

5. PBS and NPR are corporate funded. 'nuff said. n/t

[SoCalDem]

12. They were forced into it.. I remember a hearing during W's reign

where a woman was getting pummeled, and actually broke down in tears.. PBS was made out to be greedy lefties who wanted to "destroy Uhmurika"..

The rat-bastard republicans who were in charge them cut their funding to the bone, and then "graciously" placed right-wingers in charge of them..

They had two choices..fold up & go away or buckle down and get corporate sponsors..:(

[Festivito]

6. NPR has also become corrupted by the greed factor.

Our nation's a mess.

[xchrom]

7. Recommend

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

10. This is why

community radio stations (and they are getting rarer by the day) should be supported. Here's one that I like;
www.kser.org

[Richard Steele]

11. K&R

[Ichingcarpenter]

13. It's good to be King

And rich
kick recomend