– The 10 Most Powerful In Television News.
– Jake Tapper introduces ABC’s “OTUS.”
– Plus: ABC’s new tagline “See the whole picture.”
– The NYT sells off 16 regional papers.
– Ha. Politifact names Democrats’ claim that GOP killed Medicare as their “Lie of the Year.”
PolitiFact debunked the Medicare charge in nine separate fact-checks rated False or Pants on Fire, most often in attacks leveled against Republican House members.
Now, PolitiFact has chosen the Democrats’ claim as the 2011 Lie of the Year.
It’s the third year in a row that a health care claim has won the dubious honor. In 2009, the winner was the Republicans’ charge that the Democrats’ health care plan included “death panels.” In 2010, it was that the plan was a “government takeover of health care.”
A complicated and wonky subject with life-or-death consequences, health care is fertile ground for falsehoods. The Democratic attack about “ending Medicare” was a pervasive line in 2011 that preyed on seniors’ worries about whether they could afford health care.
Even when explained accurately, the Republicans’ Medicare plan was not particularly popular with the public, nor with some independent health policy analysts. But the plan was distorted and attacked again and again.
– Fishbowl NY taking votes for “Most Memorable Media Moment of the Year.”
– Newsbusters: The Best Notable Quotables of 2011, Battle of Our Readers vs. Media Experts
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