The Media Blackout of Kermit Gosnell Case

The blogoshere and twitterverse blew up this up this week over the Main Stream Media's shocking lack of interest in a mass murder trial that's been going on since March 18. The case of Kermit Gosnell was mostly receiving coverage only in the conservative corners of cyberspace until this week. That's when liberal columnist Kirsten Powers could no longer ignore it, and took the MSM to task on the pages of USA Today:

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.

Now, we're finally getting some coverage from large media outlets, mostly in the form of ass covering,  lame excuses and attempts to turn this around on conservatives. However, none of the major news outlets have even bothered to cover the horrors revealed in the Grand Jury Report.  

But that doesn't mean this case will ever get the level of coverage it would receive if someone shot seven children and a patient inside a doctor's office. We would hear about that 24/7 for months on end.

 Obviously, this story is toxic to the media's political agenda,. and is an example of how their bias is revealed not just through what's reported, but what's not. Here's a photo of the courtroom media section taken this week:

Coverage of this case also raises the inconvenient fact of Barack Obama's repeated votes against outlawing these horrific practices as a legislator. Planned Parenthood's -mostly ignored- position that mothers and physicians should decide the fate of these babies would receive wider scrutiny as well:

As of this writing, my local paper, The Tampa Bay Times, hasn't covered this story at all since an AP report which made passing reference in December of 2011 regarding another case similar to this one.  The TBT is home to the widely cited and Pulitzer Prize winning Politifact, which purports to "seek out the truth in politics." Thankfully, they've sorted out the facts surrounding the JayZ & Beyonce Cuba trip, which is apparently far more important than the politics surrounding the mass murder trial of an abortionist.  

Update: What I Saw at the Gosnell Trial

"Thursday’s testimony had sensational details. The court staff, convinced it would attract journalists from around the nation, has set aside three rows of seats to accommodate up to 40 reporters. But all Thursday morning, as Ashly Baldwin testified to horror after horror, only one reporter was in the reserved seating — me.
Several local news outlets were there, scattered about the mostly empty courtroom. The Philadelphia Inquirer had a reporter there. NBC10 sent a blogger for its website. The AP stopped in, but the reporter told me that resources are thin and trial coverage is not gavel to gavel.
An hour into afternoon testimony, Jon Hurdle of The New York Times showed up, and a few minutes later was gone.
The lack of daily media coverage for the most sensational abortion trial angers pro-lifers who said there is a “media black out” on the Gosnell trial.
I asked one of the court staff why so few are interested.
“If you’re pro-choice, do you really want anybody to know about this,” he said, motioning to the filthy medical equipment set up in the courtroom.
It’s a good point. As saturation coverage of the Sandy Hook elementary school coverage has caused Americans to reconsider the limits of the Second Amendment, saturation coverage of Kermit Gosnell’s clinic would likely cause the same reconsideration of abortion rights.
The details are that horrifying."