Cable News Websites Treat Joe Wilson Very Differently

by Colby Hall | 10:43 am, September 10th, 2009

» 5 comments

wilson Rep. Joe Wilson‘s outburst of “You lie” at President Barack Obama during his speech to Congress Wednesday has created quite a media stir, and the way that this story unfolds reveal a lot about the health care debate and the odds for a bipartisan solution. But not everyone seems to feel that this is a lead story. Let’s take a look at how the websites for the cable news networks chose to cover the story:

CNN.com sees this as a big and interesting story, providing both headline and image:
cnn_wilson

MSNBC.com does not give it the lead headline, but provides the “money shot” of Joe Wilson’s outburst:
msnbc_wilson

FoxNews.com sees ACORN the largest current issue today, choosing the questionable headline “Pimpin’ for ACORN”, but provide a smaller news head in the listing of “other stories”:
fox_wilson

CNN, CNN.com, fox news, Fox.com, FoxNews.com, Joe Wilson, msnbc, MSNBC.com, obama, Obama's Speech, Wilson You Lie

TfT

I personally think what Wilson did was inappropriate. I also think Obama calling Palin a liar was inappropriate….doesn’t seem to be getting much attention though.

How did the media cover the Dem outbursts of boos and hisses during the 05 Bush SOTU? I don’t recall. Did it make the headlines of the news networks?

Wilson has apologized and the apology has been accepted; unfortunately, it won’t be the end of the story.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Anthony-De-Rosa/503357744 Anthony De Rosa

The GOP has traditionally supported ACORN. They choose to smear the organization using people outside of mainstream ACORN to distract and to attempt to bait people into taking their focus away from the issue of health care reform.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Jones/1384303476 Chris Jones

The bigger story is the hypocrisy of democrats:

http://www.thehotjoints.com/2009/09/10/hey-democrats-you-heckled-bush/
ImNotBlue

And the ACORN workers were fired earlier today. So I suppose the question become, which website is more influential?

Did CNN or MSNBC report the ACORN story? No? Well, there’s you’re answer.
shootfromthehip

“I also think Obama calling Palin a liar was inappropriate….doesn’t seem to be getting much attention though.”

Maybe the reason it didn’t get attention is because the words Sarah Palin never came out of Obama’s mouth in the speech. She is not the only one on the right who spread the false “death panel” meme. You guys just inferred that he meant her. He never said her name.