Fox Hypes Own Week-Long Obamacare Special, But Describes NBC's As “Propaganda”

Written by Andrew Lawrence

Published

Fox News criticized an upcoming NBC special intended to educate viewers about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as “propaganda,” despite hyping Fox Business' week-long ACA special as a way to educate viewers about the “hideously complicated law.”

On September 30, NBC News will begin airing a week-long series titled “Ready or Not, the New Healthcare Law,” which NBC described in a press release as a way to “help Americans get the most out of the Affordable Care Act.” The announcement comes as the ACA's health insurance exchanges are set to begin operations on October 1, and as significant confusion over the law remains.

On the September 30 edition of Happening Now, host Jon Scott opened a segment on the NBC special by stating: “A major news network accused of crossing the line from objective reporting to cheerleading when it comes to Obamacare.” Scott concluded: “If Obamacare does not prove to be very workable, are you going to see that story covered on NBC?”:

But while Scott ridiculed NBC's effort to educate their viewers on the Affordable Care Act as “cheerleading,” and Fox News' website Fox Nation described the NBC special as “propaganda,” hours earlier Fox & Friends praised a week-long special scheduled to air on Fox Business' The Willis Report. Host Elisabeth Hasselbeck opened the segment by praising the special, titled “A User's Guide To Obamacare,” saying, “According to the most recent surveys, as many as 51 percent of Americans don't have enough information about the Affordable Care, so each day of this week we're going to help.” Hasselbeck added, “Next week it's your week-long series, 'A User's Guide To Obamacare' -- thankfully, because we need it.” At the conclusion of the segment, Gerri Willis, the host of the special, described the Affordable Care Act as a “hideously complicated law.”

While Fox is accusing NBC of airing “propaganda” even before the special has appeared, Fox News and others in the right-wing media have spent the last three years spreading misinformation and propaganda about the health care law. Fox figures have ramped up the misleading attacks in the weeks leading up to the opening of insurance exchanges, and have also pressured Republican politicians to defund or repeal the law, even at the expense of shutting down the federal government.