PBS NewsHour Only Airs a Vague, Boring Minute on Planned Parenthood Hearing

September 30th, 2015 1:03 PM

If there was a contest for who would try hardest among the networks to ignore the House hearing with Planned Parenthood boss Cecile Richards, the winner was the PBS NewsHour. They gave it 66 seconds, with 18 seconds of a Richards soundbite and 13 seconds of GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

What was especially weird about it was how there was really no serious attempt to explain the subject of the hearing beyond the incredibly vague “how fetal tissue is used for research.” That’s not even “how fetal tissue is acquired from abortion providers for research.” Not even Jordan’s soundbite specifies what’s on the Center for Medical Progress videos:

JUDY WOODRUFF: For the first time, the head of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, faced her Republican critics in Congress today. They have attacked the group after clandestine videos showed officials discussing how fetal tissue is used for research. Today, Congressman Jim Jordan and others sparred with Richards over stripping the group of its federal funding.

REP. JIM JORDAN: The nice things about these videos, it’s — it’s lifted the curtain. We can now see what’s going on there. And that’s why we should fund the government and ship the money from this organization to organizations that didn’t do this kind of behavior.

CECILE RICHARDS: The outrageous accusations leveled against Planned Parenthood based on heavily doctored videos are offensive and categorically untrue. I realize, though, that the facts have never gotten in the way of these campaigns to block women from health care they need and deserve.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Republicans also accused Planned Parenthood of spending millions of dollars on political activities. Richards said the group keeps federal funds strictly segregated from its political arm.   

We previously noted the NewsHour went "missing in action" on the Planned Parenthood videos after the very first tape. They aired a story by political reporter Lisa Desjardins on August 26 which was somewhat balanced, if not exactly specific about the tapes -- the story showed clips with no audio. Their designated, allegedly objective expert, pro-abortion sociologist Drew Halfmann, insisted Ted Cruz was the "most radical" figure in the debate and the whole issue would end up helping Hillary Clinton in the general election.

It's instructive that PBS could spend almost ten minutes on Catholic priest sex abuse on September 22 to greet the arrival of Pope Francis, but can barely find a minute for an effort to expose Planned Parenthood.