Media Matters calls on networks to address McCaughey's health care falsehoods

Washington, D.C. -- Today, Media Matters for America President Eric Burns issued an open letter to cable news networks regarding the decisions by some of those networks to give former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey a platform to spread misinformation about health care reform -- misinformation that cable news personalities have, in some cases, previously debunked. Indeed, CNN and Fox News have both hosted McCaughey and have allowed her to spread falsehoods even after employees of those networks debunked claims she made earlier this year.

Burns writes, in part:

"As the debate over health care reform proceeds, it is crucial that discussions and reports on the subject are accurate and fair. If the networks insist on hosting Ms. McCaughey to discuss health care, they have an obligation to their viewers to challenge and debunk her falsehoods."

The letter reads:

Nancy Lane
Senior Vice President of Editorial, CNN
1 CNN Center
Atlanta, GA 30303

Patti Domm
Executive Editor, CNBC
900 Sylvan Avenue
Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632

Neil Cavuto
Senior Vice President, Business News/Managing Editor,
FOX Business Network
1211 Sixth Avenue
New York, NY 10036

Michael Clemente
Senior Vice President, News
FOX News Channel
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036

Shannon High-Bassalik
Vice President and Managing Editor, MSNBC
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112

June 26, 2009

Dear cable news executives:

I am writing to express my concern that some television networks have given former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey a platform to spread misinformation about health care reform -- misinformation that cable news personalities have, in some cases, previously debunked.

In a February 9 Bloomberg "commentary," Ms. McCaughey claimed that a new National Coordinator of Health Information Technology "will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and 'guide' your doctor's decisions." This claim was subsequently repeated by Megyn Kelly and Bill Hemmer of Fox News, Stephen Moore of The Wall Street Journal, and radio host Rush Limbaugh.

During Ms. McCaughey's February 10 appearance on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, Lou Dobbs allowed Ms. McCaughey to repeat her false claim that provisions in the economic recovery act would allow the government to dictate to doctors treatments they could provide.

CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen debunked the falsehood during the February 11 edition of CNN Newsroom, reporting on a conversation she had with McCaughey. Cohen said: "I had a PDF of the bill up on my computer. I said, 'Show me where in the bill it says that this bill is going to have the government telling your doctor what to do.' And she [McCaughey] directed me to language -- it didn't actually say that." Cohen later added, "Now when we asked the folks who wrote this bill, 'Hey, is this bill going to allow the government to tell doctors what to do?' they used words like, 'preposterous' and 'completely and wildly untrue.' "

Similarly, MSNBC's David Shuster debunked the myth on the February 11 edition of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, noting that the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology "will not be empowered to monitor doctors or require them to do anything."

In addition, on the February 11 edition of Special Report with Bret Baier, Fox News contributor Mort Kondracke said of the stimulus package's health IT provisions: "I talked to Newt Gingrich's favorite expert on health care IT, David Merritt, and he says that there's nothing in this bill that is not bipartisan, that hasn't been worked out by the Bush administration except that there's a lot of money to help doctors buy technology equipment. ... So the idea that there's a conspiracy here is just far-fetched."

Since then, however, CNN, Fox Business Network, Fox News, and CNBC have all hosted Ms. McCaughey and have allowed her to spread further misinformation.

During a March 27 appearance on Fox News' Hannity, Sean Hannity allowed Ms. McCaughey to falsely assert that the stimulus' health IT provision would "deliver protocols that will tell your doctor to limit care to what the government's advisers deem cost-effective."

CNN's American Morning hosted Ms. McCaughey on June 24, with John Roberts introducing her as a "long-time expert in public health." Mr. Roberts failed to note her previous falsehood on CNN. He then allowed Ms. McCaughey to assert without challenge that the Affordable Health Choices Act "[b]asically ... pushes everyone into an HMO-style plan" and that most Americans will have to "go through what they call a 'medical home,' which is this decade's term for an HMO gatekeeper." Similarly, on the June 16 edition of CNBC's The Kudlow Report, Larry Kudlow hosted Ms. McCaughey and failed to challenge her assertions that the Affordable Health Choices Act "pushes Americans into low-budget plans" and that the bill "restricts the choice that other Americans have. If you have your plan and you like it, you may not be able to keep it unless it's an HMO-style plan."

In fact, the proposed bill does not require people to give up their health insurance nor does it "push" people into "an HMO-style plan."

Also, on the May 11 edition of Fox Business Network's Cavuto, Ms. McCaughey falsely asserted that White House health care policy adviser Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel had said that "if you want to save money in health care, we're going to have to push doctors to eliminate the Hippocratic Oath." In fact, Dr. Emanuel wrote that the culture of health care "overuse" has led physicians to interpret the Hippocratic Oath "as an imperative to do everything for the patient regardless of cost or effect on others."

As the debate over health care reform proceeds, it is crucial that discussions and reports on the subject are accurate and fair. If the networks insist on hosting Ms. McCaughey to discuss health care, they have an obligation to their viewers to challenge and debunk her falsehoods.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Eric Burns

President, Media Matters For America