A post at Kevin MD's got me started yesterday. Then a news story at the N&R kept me going. Since everybody's writing "open letters" to the Obamessiah (as if he's going to read them), I thought I'd direct one at a more local/accessible target. You see, my theory is that change starts in our own backyards.
Hold on tight.
Kevin bemoaned the notion of major media censoring their own health blogs (I found the picture very apropos):
Being able to express viewpoints without fear of reprisal is a major strength of blogging. Outlets that suppress blog opinion might as well not start a blog at all.
Please understand that this is all in the wake of my blog-battle on the N&R's "Front Pew" a week ago . . . when N&R reporter Joe Wilbur/Killian/whatever-the-hell-his-name-is had no problem (and was not edited or in-any-way censored by his employers) equating the display of a lighted Christmas Cross with burning one.
Wilbur expressed his viewpoint . . . born of smug ignorance & thinly-veiled contempt for Christianity disguised as enlightened tolerance. And I expressed mine.
And yes, I'm still smoldering over the N&R's editorial policies pertaining to encouraging civil discourse: Publishing the Danish cartoons might have offended a Muslim somewhere who thinks that our new President, and ex/current Secretaries of State are "house negroes" . . . But publishing race-baiting drivel like this - setting "ignorant", "tasteless", "tacky" Christians up to burn crosses . . . to be "rednecks" and "morons" and "twisted" is just fine.
Also understand that I'm more-than-a-little bothered that the N&R's own healthcare blog isn't manned by a doctor or nurse. Instead we have Lex Alexander . . . usually pushing a liberal, "universal care" agenda (it's a "right") . . . and completely oblivious to the impending meltdown of primary care (apparently, there are "some" doctors in private practice who are financially struggling . . . I'm sure some of my colleagues who are on the verge of bankruptcy - or bankrupt already/about to lose their home and/or the fruits of a life's work . . . will appreciate Lex's toss-away acknowledgement).
And then there's my biggest beef: that the N&R hasn't offered one line of newspaper print to the sad saga of local-Pediatrician-burned-in-public-service (not-to-mention one of the GSO-area blogosphere's own), Dr. Mary Johnson.
So much for citizen journalism.
With all of this in mind, let's get back to Kevin. I commented there:
Welcome to my world (aka "Blogsboro" North Carolina) - where a local newspaper editor looking to increase interest and circulation, invited people to join the blogosphere and become "citizen journalists" - on the pretense of focusing attention on local stories that were not getting told.
It turned out to be more than he bargained for . . . as the newspaper's own journalistic short-comings and biases have been splattered all over the ether.
Now all this editor wants to do is ban, ban, ban - dissatisfied bloggers and "mean-spirited" comments.
It's a huge joke. And look for more of it.
The thing about this joke, JR, is that it's just not funny anymore.
I was disgusted (but alas, not surprised) by the N&R's front-and-center news coverage of the latest development in the seemingly never-ending "Wray-fray" (shades of 1979 and "truth & reconciliation"). GSO police officers who have an EEOC complaint pending against the city (translation: it's public record) have asked the Guildford County DA to bring in the SBI . . . for an "investigation" of how their names were released to the Rhino Times (the puny weekly so kicking the N&R's butt with the Bledsoe series, "Cops in Black and White").
I am sorry, JR. This so-called "story", which you considered newsworthy, is a total load of hooey. A great big fat pile of nothing. Releasing the officers' names was not, under ANY stretch of the imagination (and I know you have a big one), a crime (each of them want $19,000 of the taxpayers' money). Even if it were a crime, it would only be a misdemeanor.
As one commenter at Trouble's said, "Isn't there a law against assisting in an attempted extortion?"
Why are you so determined for these officers to be successful in their shake-down of the city of Greensboro? Why don't you just have a Canada Dry and chill?
And while you're chillin', Mr. Robinson, you might consider that several years ago, as a primary-care doctor formerly in public service, I asked the Randolph County DA to refer this case to the NC Attorney General . . . for a proper SBI investigation . . . because "non-profit" hospital executives (in the area you supposedly cover) repeatedly lied under Oath about the "confidentiality" of information contained in their IRS returns (i.e. public documents).
And with their lies, they destroyed any chance I had of coming home.
Lying about matters relevant to a damages claim is perjury. That would be a felony, John. Multiple felonies, in fact. And perjury has no statute of limitations. And prosecuting that perjury could result in a plea or dismissal in exchange for the hospital paying fair restitution and publicly apologizing to the doctor wronged . . . something a Randolph County civil court would NEVER accomplish . . . and in fact, did not accomplish . . . because "non-profit" Randolph Hospital executives, Bob Morrison (who, rumor has it, has enough money to put an elevator in his house) and Steve Eblin, knew that Garland Yates would never hold them accountable for their bold-faced lies.
In point of fact, the out-going Asheboro Police Chief . . . the good man, the honest man, the person of integrity who "did right in the sight of the Lord" (to coin a phrase) . . . could still refer this case to the NC Attorney General . . . as the location of the lying falls within the city limits and under his jurisdiction.
But I've been blown off. The case has NEVER been investigated . . . by ANYONE. EVER.
I've actually reported a real crime. The Randolph County DA takes a dive and the newspapers sleep.
I'm not supposed to be VERY angry about that.
JR, I know I'm not one of "the right people" . . . I know too, that in terms of being a fashionable victim or a "human interest" story, I'm not a "new pilgrim", I didn't just hop over the border and my pale/Anglo-Saxon face is not the same color as the black police officers that David Wray obviously did not discriminate against.
But COME ON!?! Almost four years after you introduced/invited me to blogging on the pretense I could get my story to the newspaper-reading masses, WHERE is the *&^%$ N&R?
I've got new for you JR. What is happening in healthcare . . . right under your nose-buried-up-the-right-butts . . . is VERY RELEVANT to the news of the day. Medicine is a mess. We are in dire need of healthcare reform . . . especially tort reform. Primary care (Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Family Practice) is in free-fall. Our new President is telling us we've got to sacrifice and get back into the "ask what you can do for your country" mode.
The problem with that is that, as an idealistic youngster, I did that already. I gave everything-I-had-and-then-some at the office.
I'm done sacrificing. I want heads on platters!
A Pediatrician in public service - working for a local non-profit hospital - was threatened, then fired for putting patients first. For saving a life. When she fought back, she was swindled by perjury, contempt and fraud. Her American Dream was shattered by two way overpaid thugs-in-suits who think "good Pediatricians are a dime a dozen".
Moreover, this doctor did not just lay down and die - or move away. She has repeatedly taken on her own profession . . . an incredibly ballsy thing to do (if I so say so myself) , as it puts a target directly on her back.
And again, JR, it's all gone on right under your *&^%$# nose.
What is the problem? Do the bubbles from the Canada Dry interfere with your journalistic Spidey sense?
Meanwhile, you rationalize that a grandstanding complaint alleging a crime that was not a crime . . . based on a dead-in-the-water EEOC complaint is front-page news? It was okay to rake David Wray/other good officers through the coals . . . literally destroying lives & careers . . . based on the flimsy, race-baiting allegations of "courageous" police officers extorting the city - officers who cannot stand behind their own names?
ON WHAT PLANET, JR, DOES THAT PASS FOR JOURNALISM?
As for the doctor who signs her name (whose story you have determinedly buried/ignored) . . . when what was done to her in her own hometown has affected every single day of her life since it happened, HOW can you (or anyone else in this corner of the blogosphere) tell her - with a straight face - to just get over it? How can you routinely pontificate on the value of other young people getting an education . . . or on hard work and integrity being rewarded . . . yet stand by deaf, dumb and mute while this not-so-young-anymore person jumps up and down and screams for help . . . because her hard work & integrity were rewarded with a boot in the ass?
What is your problem?
I ask again. Where IS the N&R? Where is the local "fourth estate" that is supposed to be our last/best defense and shield against corruption and tyranny of the local kind?
I'll tell you where it looks like you are: Sucking up to Cone Hospital (the doctor I rescued worked for them) and slurping Canada Dry.
Of course, by comparison, the N&R is light-years ahead of what passes for journalism just thirty miles south. For here in Asheboro, the Courier Tribune hasn't yet clued into what a blog is (it might just inflame the disenchanted masses previously so easily manipulated), and it regularly deletes/does not publish comments online readers (like me) post on news stories. They pander to the redneck/Christian locals when it suits them - but just as easily turn & gut (in order to slurp something other than Canada Dry).
So while Kevin's point is well-taken, it's not just about newspapers censoring their own healthcare blogs.
It's about newspapers censoring healthcare news period. They're not telling the story. They're barely awake. For if they were, things like this and this might not have happened.
In the Piedmont-Triad, North Carolina, it's all and only about newspapers pushing an economic agenda and presenting a happy face for some of their biggest advertisers . . . the local hospital machines. The publishers and editorial boards of our newspapers simply cannot admit that some of the "right people" they hobnob with at Rotary and Jaycees and (yes) church are capable of some pretty under-handed, nasty things.
It's just not good for business to admit that the local hospital can and does screw up.
For my part, when it comes to the local press, I am sick and tired of being the "anti-nappy-headed ho". I am a middle-class white woman of faith (hear me roar!), born and raised here, who planned ahead and overcame much and made good and got an education and worked hard and came home to serve the community where I grew up. Young and idealistic, I gave and I gave and I gave and I gave - until there was nothing left to give.
From a personal standpoint, I've been responsible . . . not having children I could not financially or emotionally support (being mired in a legal battle and on the road) . . . paying my bills (for many years barely scraping by) and living within my means.
As a lowly "ordinary" woman [isn't that what North Carolina's real malignant narcissist (the one that the MSM now wants so desperately to "rehabilitate") would call me?], I did everything I was supposed to do and I've gotten no help at all.
Meanwhile, I've watched as those both above and below my socioeconomic "class" (from Wall Street to Mexico to the poorest ghetto/"hood") do whatever they want in the pursuit of happiness . . . break every rule in the book . . . and be REWARDED for it. There's not even a pretense of personal responsibility anymore. And certainly no accountability. Everybody's a fricking victim of something/someone except their own choices. And so far, the only thing I'm hearing from the politicians buying those votes is that I get to keep paying for everybody else's mistakes. My taxes will go up. My medical expertise and services are worth next to nothing for a society wallowing in entitlement.
I need to sit down, shut up and pay.
And OBTW, with regards to getting any kind of justice for the professional rape I endured in my own hometown, I can just kiss off.
Moreover, I've for damned sure not seen any real investigative journalism of ANYTHING in a very long time (which might have exposed some of this garbage before it got so bad we had to sell our soul to hear the Dow Jones bell ring). The truth is that, for all of the "bad news" that saturates our airwaves, it's all pretty much after the fact . . . since our modern-day journalists have never met a suit they could not sleep with.
It's the real reason fewer people are reading your newspapers, JR. John and Jane Q. Public know what you are . . . and that you're not serving us. And we've decided to save the trees.
We're being "positive" and "looking forward". We're being "green". It's "progressive". It's what you wanted.
I am sorry. With a black man now in the White House and that tired/old victim card so OFF the Woolworth's counter . . . with the fruits of corporate greed depleting our bank accounts and futures . . . with a recession/depression looming, and medicine in megacrisis . . . I want to see some REAL change . . . starting with our local journalists . . . starting with the stories you deem fit to report . . .
. . . starting with YOU, JR.
Bottom line. There's a healthcare/human interest story right under your nose - about a real "healthcare hero" who got burned by greed and corruption in her own hometown. Report it. And if you don't, don't you EVER tell me that you are a journalist.
You are, in point of fact, a sad/sorry hack. And I, as a citizen journalist, am honored to be deleted from your sidebar and banned from your pathetic excuse for a blog.
It means I'm doing something right.
P.S. I hate Canada Dry.
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[[Instead we have Lex Alexander . . . usually pushing a liberal, "universal care" agenda (it's a "right") ]]
Mary, at what point have I ever "pushed a liberal, 'universal care' agenda"? Please provide links.
Nice Roch impression, Lex.
I'm not spending my day doing the "please provide links" dance. But a very quick perusal of your blog (both before and after I made the statement) gives us your November 11th post (and I quote):
"The Center for American Progress is a liberal think tank likely to contribute both staff and ideas to President-elect Barack Obama's administration. It has a lengthy report here addressing some of the issues involved in reforming our health-care system to get care to more people who need it."
In a November 14th post, you featured (Democratic) Senator Max Baucus's "call to action" - as I read it, a sexed-up variation of universal care (i.e. the government shores up the free market).
I feel it coming. Your argument is going to be that although you post this stuff, you aren't necessarily promoting/pusing it (just like our dear Joe Wilbur was not pushing his Christian-bashing POV on anyone). And I seem to recall that you're a conservative/registered Republican too. Or maybe that's Hoggard.
The throwaway remark (on November 7th) about "some doctors" being in financial dire straights was also good. Fits right in with the attitude I've encountered from your newspaper (which is the prism through which I view): We're all rich and undeserving of help or sympathy - even when we've been greatly wronged.
We can just get another job - or move somewhere else. We should be grateful that our jobs are "recession-proof".
On the other hand, I suppose I should thank you for that link - given that your Editor has banned me from his blog.
Mary, I've provided links to these sites because BOTH major presidential candidates have been talking about ways to get universal coverage. The 11/11 (i.e., post-election) link was just that: a link to a think tank that, agree with it or not, is likely to be an intellectual engine for the Obama administration just as the Heritage Foundation and AEI were for the Bush administration.
I linked to the Baucus proposal because it is likely to be an influence on whatever Congress ends up discussing.
If you're going to claim I'm "pushing a liberal, 'universal care' agenda," go ahead. I think a fair review of my blogging would lead a reasonable person to believe otherwise, and your refusal to provide links isn't helping you in this regard.
As for the financial straits in which primary care docs find themselves, I've written about it. For example, my recent article on electronic health records -- one you yourself said "covered all the bases" -- listed that as a big reason why a lot of docs can't afford to lay out money for an EMR system. I've never claimed nor implied that doctors "are all rich and undeserving of help or sympathy," simply because I know that not to be true.
Perhaps I haven't talked about the problem enough. You're certainly entitled to your opinion, and you might even be right, simply because I couldn't tell you what "enough" is in this context. But you can't say I've been "oblivious" to the problem.
Lex, again, my opinion of your blogging on healthcare topics comes from reading your blog over a long period of time and coming to the sad conclusion that the Greensboro News & Record is only interested in presenting/encouraging a more liberal agenda - i.e. "universal care".
I'm not alone. Here's an e-mail comment I got yesterday from a doctor who reads both of our blogs:
"I think you are absolutely right with respect to the N&R coverage of health policy. It is all in one direction."
Now, am I going to spend my Saturday afternoon perusing links on your blog for a link-by-link blow-by-blow of what Roch likes to call "empirical data"?
I may not have any shopping to do, but that would be a resounding, "NO!".
Congress is composed largely of lawyers - and at this juncture in time, tilts to the left side of the aisle. Entitlement rules. There are votes to be bought. And in that context, doctors are doomed.
In terms of a "fair review" of your newspaper's heathcare coverage (both in print and online/blogging), as a LOCAL Pediatrician who was wronged in public service . .. and who had the balls to fight back . . . and who, as a lowly ordinary citizen, has presented serious criminal charges against a "non-profit" (translation: taxpayer supported) healthcare institution - to both the DA and local news media . . . only to be COMPLETELY blown off by both . . . not-to-mention as a local blogger BANNED/DE-LINKED by the your "blogger-king" Editor . . . I think I have a(forgive the pun) FAIRLY strong foundation upon which to base my opinion.
That's what's NOT helping you - or JR (who I will note has not had the courage of his journalistic convictions to show up and respond to a post directed at him) - in this regard.
I also sense that you were dispatched to do battle on JR's behalf.
And I've got ZERO respect for that.
John Robinson hails from that distinguished newspaper tradition that has birthed those venerated purveyors of newsworthy items such as "Pravda", "Granma", and the lesser known, but most certainly informative, "Korean Central News", a publication of the Korean Central News Agency for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(North Korea to you John).
As with the News & Record, these tireless defenders of the public's right to know have published a myriad of articles on the Soviet economic miracle, the heroic defense by Cuban troops against US aggression in Grenada, and the world's embracing of the written works of Kim Jong Il. See the link below for that one. Most informative, and I was taken aback that the N&R had failed to share this gem with us.
http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm
John, you have used the old trick practiced by your comrades (forgive me, but that is the proper title is it not?), that you can just as easily not report the truth as to outright lie about it, and achieve the same effect.
Nothing like being kept in the dark is there?
I'll have whatever Vigilant is having;)
" . . . you can just as easily not report the truth as to outright lie about it, and achieve the same effect."
From our perch in Randolph County, Mr. Robinson is well versed in both.
Several concerned readers have suggested that perhaps I do not want the newspaper that employed Ethan Feinsilver anywhere near my story . . . especially in the wake of this post . . .
. . . for it would only be a hatchet job . . .
. . . as others can attest, the N&R's patented specialty.
I wouldn't even bother responding to Lex Alexander.
His lack of academic and intellectual integrity is well established from past experience.
He's typical of what we find with the N&R.
Bubba, I share your disgust with the N&R, and I am beyond exasperated with several of the more left-leaning types in our local blogosphere (one of them the poorest winner I've ever seen).
But I'll hear Lex . . . or anybody else . . . out.
And I will respond. If folks are civil, I am civil. If they are not, well, I can give as good as I get. Sometimes "gooder".
You see, I've had lots of practice.
And there is kind of the point. Please note that the one person who should be here isn't. Lex's boss is nowhere to be found. And I daresay it's because he cannot defend/spin the notion that my horrific story of innocence & idealism lost isn't "relevant" to any of the important issues of our day.
It just doesn't fly. It never did.
Meanwhile, the N&R's print space keeps going to the "Big Mamas" of this word (no offense to Big Mama - I'm sure she was a fine lady).
Mary, I think there is but little question that the overall direction of the N&R coverage of health care is in the direction of more socialized medicine, more centralization of control and decisions, more government-sponsored health care. This is partially reflected in the reporting on the wire services, and partially a function of local reporting.
But this type of coverage is typical of the MSM overall. There has been an inexorable push by the MSM and the Democratic Party in this direction for many years. So I think it is inevitable we will be getting a more socialized system, perhaps sooner rather than later.
Joe Guarino
Agreed, Joe. Thanks for dropping in.
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