guidelines in MacNeil/Lehrer journalism

Well intentioned, I’m sure, but surveys of multiple episodes and citations of ridiculousness are far more instructive about what MacNeil/Lehrer actually does. What they do on-air is far more important than what they say their guidelines are.

I found “macneil site:fair.org” to be a good query if you want to learn about news bias, the preposterous health care “debate” the show had with Dr. Steffi Woolhandler about universal health care (which, in 2007, “CBS’s own poll of Americans had found 64 percent supporting the view that the federal government should “guarantee health insurance for all” — with 60 percent approving of higher taxes to pay for it. A CNN poll found 64 percent American support for the idea that “government should provide a national health insurance program for all Americans, even if this would require higher taxes.” according to Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon with similar echoes going back decades).