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Cable coverage differs on health care meetings
Fox cuts away from polite town hall meeting on health care reform; CNN and MSNBC carry it all
By David Bauder, AP Television Writer
On Tuesday August 11, 2009, 5:17 pm EDT

NEW YORK (AP) -- Fox News Channel cut away from President Barack Obama's town hall meeting on health care reform Tuesday as he faced a far more polite crowd than has attended many meetings hosted by members of Congress recently. CNN and MSNBC carried the session in full.

The loud public debates have been a tonic for cable news networks during normally quiet August. The audience for Fox's Bill O'Reilly last Thursday was a half-million more than on a typical evening this year, and he credited his network's willingness to listen to health care reform opponents for helping bring in viewers.

The cable networks all covered a much livelier forum held Tuesday morning by Sen. Arlen Specter in Lebanon, Pa. One woman, nearly shaking in anger, stood directly in front of Specter and said the reform bill "is about the systematic dismantling of our country."

CNN called it a "town hell."

The loud protests have dominated coverage and put the White House on the defensive. Nearly 60 percent of the time on cable and radio talk shows last week was spent on health care, much of that time debating whether the angry protests were genuine or orchestrated, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Obama gave an opening statement at his town hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., then invited questions. Fox cut away after a couple of questions, which appeared to come from supporters of the president's plan.

"The president has a town hall and it looks like it could be a campaign stop," said Fox anchor Trace Gallagher.

Fox analyst Tucker Carlson said there was "no way" that the White House didn't screen questions, despite the administration's claim otherwise.

Gallagher and co-anchor Juliet Huddy interviewed guests and showed clips from the Specter session while the president was speaking. They noted that Obama's full appearance could be seen on the network's Web site.

"Any contentious questions, anybody yelling, we will bring it to you here," Gallagher said.

Fox never returned to live coverage.

Obama seemed to invite tougher questions toward the end of the town hall. "I don't want people thinking I just have a bunch of plants in here," he said.

At the event's end, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell noted the questions were "not too challenging."

On his top-rated cable news show Monday, O'Reilly touted the network's coverage of the health debate. Last Thursday "The O'Reilly Factor" had 3.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

"When we cover the town hall meetings, we don't describe the protesters as loony," O'Reilly said. "We don't denigrate people who disagree with President Obama. That's the big difference between Fox News and all the others."

O'Reilly said that "our reporting is honest, while much of the other news media is simply in the tank for the president."

The debates were similarly fodder for the other side. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann aired a lengthy editorial Monday criticizing health care reform opponents.

Obama, in his town hall meeting Tuesday, accused some of his opponents of trying to scare people.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, in Air Force One on the trip to New Hampshire, criticized news organizations for their preoccupation with the contentious meetings.

"You cover noise and heat and light, but I think what people in America want to know is how is this reform going to help them or how is it going to affect them."

CNN is a unit of Time Warner Inc. Fox is a unit of News Corp. MSNBC is a unit of General Electric Co.

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