The undercover footage of Planned Parenthood doctors discussing fetal tissue harvesting has led to a congressional probe and reignited a national abortion debate, but The New York Times has barely covered the videos.
The following is an in-depth look at how the Times is covering the story:Live Action News broke the first Center for Medical Progress (CMP) video around 8 a.m. on July 14, showing a top Planned Parenthood doctor Deborah Nucatola frankly discussing the gruesome ins and outs of fetal harvesting. The story was quickly picked up, but almost exclusively by right-of-center sites.
After 6 p.m., the Times ran a short Associated Press story about Republicans postponing a vote in the House because of the video, though the video is not mentioned until the sixth paragraph.
About an hour later, the Times ran another AP story that focused on the video but did not contain it, instead linking to the extended footage, which runs more than two and a half hours. And just before 10 p.m., the Times ran a Reuters story that did not link to either version of the video and was headlined: “Planned Parenthood slams secret video as false portrayal of fetus tissue program.”
Times reporter Jackie Calmes covered the story the next day in a piece that only linked to the extended footage, headlined, “Video Accuses Planned Parenthood of Crime,” with this lede:
Abortion opponents on Tuesday renewed their campaign against Planned Parenthood, with immediate impact among Republicans in Congress and the presidential race, after the release of a video that surreptitiously captured an official from the group explaining how it provides fetal parts to medical researchers.
All three stories briefly describe the content of the video and the CMP allegations. None quote from the shorter viral version, but the Times and AP do quote Nucatola unwittingly defending herself in the extended version: “This is not something with any revenue stream that affiliates are looking at — this is a way to offer patients the services they want and do good for the medical community.”
The Times did not put a reporter on any of the other eight videos released by CMP, although the paper has run hundreds of stories about or related to Planned Parenthood since their reporter covered the first video.
The Times ran an AP story and a Reuters story on the second video, and ran an AP story on the fifth video released by CMP. None of these link to either the cut or extended footage, and they are dominated by statements from Planned Parenthood and comments from politicians.
The editorial board sided with Planned Parenthood in a July 22 editorial headlined, “The Campaign of Deception Against Planned Parenthood.” The Times has run seven opinion pieces supporting Planned Parenthood from a variety of sources, and four from a pro-life perspective by Times columnist Ross Douthat, as well as back and forth commentary from readers.
The editorial wrongly stated that CMP only released full footage of the first video in response to pressure from Planned Parenthood (Calmes had wrongly reported the same thing a few days earlier). More than two weeks later, the Times issued a correction to both pieces.Most of the coverage centers on the political fallout, with a heavy focus on funding battles at the state and federal levels, and a good number of stories on how the issue could hurt the GOP and Republican presidential candidates. Comparatively few stories focused on the congressional and state investigations into Planned Parenthood.
The New York Times did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Here’s a breakdown of all the headlines on the issue since the story broke (aside from those on the videos already mentioned), most of which are from Reuters or AP.
Planned Parenthood’s response:
A number of explainers, primarily on the importance of fetal tissue research:
Dozens of stories on funding fights, including:
Another dozen on Hillary’s response and how the issue could damage Republicans, including:
Every headline on the Congressional probe:
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