Rebekah Gould
Staff Writer
Time magazine claimed the Casey Anthony trial as, “the social media trial of the century”. You couldn’t turn on the news, pick up a newspaper, or magazine without seeing her picture or reading an article about the case. Anthony was accused of abusing and killing her own daughter, but after nearly a two month trial the jury found her not guilty.
If the nation was so engaged in a case that involved one murder, then wouldn’t they be even more so in such a controversial case involving abortion and eight murder charges?
The trial that doesn’t have the media buzzing is Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s. Gosnell was the only licensed doctor and owner of the Women’s Medical Society in Philadelphia, Pa. His staff didn’t have the medical training necessary to give medicine to patients or perform abortions. He is charged with eight counts of murder including one patient (third degree), seven babies (first degree), and is accused of performing abortions after 24 weeks, and his staff claims that he was treating Caucasian patients better than those of another race. Eight of his former staff members pleaded guilty, three to third degree murder. The Women’s Medical Society was raided in 2010 and what officials found there was horrifying, causing them to refer to it as a House of Horrors. He was arrested on January 19, 2011 and the trial began on March 18, 2013, but many people haven’t heard about it because the media hasn’t focused on it.
His trial, being based on such a controversial situation, should grab the attention of the major media networks. Many people enjoy arguing with one another about politics and whether or not one’s opinion falls under the conservative or liberal umbrella. The Gosnell case doesn’t call for an argument; it should be publicized so people know what is going on in their country. That’s what the news is for. Fox News is one of the few major networks that has consistently followed the Gosnell case. MSNBC and CBS finally covered the story on April 15, nearly a month after the trial had started. Many online news sites such as The New York Times and the Huffington Post have kept up with the case, but that isn’t getting it on national television. Most of the articles online aren’t about the case itself, but about lack of media coverage.
The real question is why? Why hasn’t this been on the news or a front page story? Some might argue that this trial isn’t nearly as important as the Boston bombing or the explosions in Texas, but if the media had reported this from the beginning, then it wouldn’t be an issue. On the other hand, those who are pro-life might want to use this case as way of demonstrating why abortion is wrong. For journalists who are pro-choice fear that this gives abortion a bad reputation, or that it is too gruesome and horrifying to report.
So, are we going to wait until this event becomes a movie? Many movies that are rated R because of violence have the top box office ratings and get great reviews. Once that violence comes into the real world with no directors or actors controlling it, the press turns their face away, when in ten years the story might become a movie. People should know about situations like this so that they are not too shielded from reality. The Gosnell trial shouldn’t be about whether abortion is right or wrong. This trial is about a man who is accused of murdering a patient, seven babies who had already been born, and being racist. After trending on Twitter, the networks are finally covering the story. If it has taken this long for the media to take a look at this House of Horrors, what else is in front of the shield that’s hiding reality?
