MSNBC Jumps The Gun On Rep. Stupak’s Health Vote

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by Drew Grant | 3:36 pm, March 21st, 2010

» 4 comments

At 1 pm today, MSNBC was reporting that Democratic House member Bart Stupak was voting “yes” on the health care bill, via a chyron on the bottom of their screen, even as the hosts were saying he was “close to” a deal. C-Span repeated the same story. At 1:20 pm Stupak told reporters that he’s still planning on voting no, but “getting there.” So how did a major news org end up reporting otherwise?

The Michigan lawmaker is a key vote needed to get the reform passed in Congress: If Stupak votes yes, he’ll bring another six votes with him, at the very least. Right now he’s currently in talks with the WH, as the congressman wants Barack Obama to clarify that in the bill that none of the government money for health care could go towards abortions before he votes yes. But with the networks’ need to bring news – any news – to viewers today about the passing of this bill, MSNBC jumped the gun in reporting the Stupak was definitely a yes. Whether or not he ends up voting for the bill, he can certainly enjoy the next couple hours as one of the most talked about politicians in D.C.

Abortion, bart stupak, Congress, Health Care Bill, White House

http://www.anonymousfinch.com AnonymousFinch

Good article. When all is said and done and the votes are cast, Mediaite should do a retrospective on which media organization were accurate and which were inaccurate in the vote counts they published. For example, most are now saying the Dems have the votes. I assume that’s true, but if it’s not, then that’s a big deal and would tend to show that they were repeating the Dem line and trying to build momentum rather than report accurately. The same analysis might also be relevant as to reports about individual members’ votes. It might go nowhere, but the analysis could be interesting after the fact.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

CNN just moved Driehaus into the yes column and Stupak will likely follow.
The Real Royal King

It does appear MSNBC was correct in this instance. And, ahead of the pack ….
felixw

Of course, MSNBC would know what was happening before the media. They are part of the White House, aren’t they? So they would find out before the real journalists were told.