In an era of partisan media bias, local reporters demonstrate the “real journalism skills,” like sifting through court files and speaking to law enforcement, needed to uncover the truth. Reporter Bethany Bruner of the Columbus Dispatch was the only reporter in the courtroom the day the rape suspect was arraigned. Bruner found the court case on the county website and in the courtroom, police confirmed that the suspect confessed and that the young victim had gone to Indiana for an abortion, Nicole Carroll, president of Gannett’s News Division and editor-in-chief of USA Today. he said. Some right-wing media figures clearly portrayed the story as a hoax – until Bruner found out that a suspect had been arrested and confessed to the crime. The series of events underscores the importance of local news, Carroll said. CNN political analyst Natasha Alfred said the case is a clear example of the effects of media partisanship, which has led many Americans to expect their news source of choice to confirm what they already believe. “What was scary is that people went on TV and disputed the story without even making an effort to get the facts,” Alfred said.
A medical history
Abortion is a medical issue, but when doctors share stories with reporters, the accounts are second-hand and the details can be difficult to confirm. Patient privacy is also paramount, and many rape victims do not want to submit to the media glare. Indiana’s attorney general was hit with a cease-and-desist order Friday over allegedly “false and defamatory” statements he made about the doctor who performed the 10-year-old’s abortion. AG Todd Rokita said authorities are investigating Bernard for possible failure to report the abortion and child abuse, even though documents show she had reported the case. It can be difficult for healthcare providers to speak up in this media landscape as well. Fox’s Jesse Watters posted Bernard’s face on his show, suggesting it may have been part of a cover-up. “(Healthcare workers) were very afraid that they could be the next doctor with their picture in the national news, threatened by an attorney general,” Dr. Tracy Wilkinson, who wrote an essay for the New York Times. signed with Bernard, he said. “And that’s pretty creepy.” Wilkinson said she would like to see media coverage focus on the larger landscape of abortion access. He’s a pediatrician, not an abortion provider, but he’s still practicing medicine in Indiana. “Unfortunately, it’s not unusual, where the focus on that single story is the problem,” Wilkinson said. “I wish the focus was not just on one patient, but on the many, many patients who struggle to access abortion every day, long before the Supreme Court decision happened.”
