Posted on 07/28/2003 9:07:51 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
In the wake of the House passing a bill on Friday to allow the re-importation of prescription drugs from other nations, CBS and ABC once again showcased liberal, big government spending senior activists, but cast them as just average seniors struggling to afford their prescriptions.
On the July 25 CBS Evening News, over video of a border agent taking small boxes out of a bag and then of video looking out of a bus window, Joie Chen began a story: “It’s scenes like these that pushed lawmakers to act, seniors crossing the borders into Canada and Mexico in search of cheaper drugs.” Viola Quiron, identified on screen only s “Maine senior citizen”: “We go to Canada to get our drugs because it’s a big, big, big saving. I save, every time I go I save over a thousand dollars.” Chen: “The savings can be significant...”
Over on ABC’s World News Tonight, Lisa Stark announced, over video of Barbara Kaufman loading her dishwasher: “Barbara Kaufman has high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis. She takes ten bills a day. Kaufman orders them online from Canada to save money.” Barbara Kaufman, no other screen ID other than name: “At this point I spend about $300 a month on prescriptions. I was spending closer to $600 a month on prescriptions.”
But who are Quiron and Kaufman? As recounted in the July 15 CyberAlert, a story on CNSNews.com detailed how she’s an activist from Maine who has testified on Capitol Hill on behalf of a left-wing group.
And via Google, I found a page with a photo that matches Kaufman and identified her as a “spokesperson” for the Medicare Justice Coalition, “a grassroots, senior consumer coalition, founded by the Minnesota Senior Federation.” See: www.mnseniors.net
It turns out, Kaufman is President of the Metropolitan Region for the Minnesota Senior Coalition. See: www.mnseniors.net
According to their Web site, “the goals of the Medicare Justice Coalition are simple: “-- to increase the federal reimbursement for both fee-for-service and HMO medical providers for those counties and states which are now below average; and “-- to equalize benefits under the Medicare program. If payment for prescription drugs is available to some seniors, it should be available to all seniors.”
An excerpt from Kaufman’s column in the August 2003 edition of the Minnesota Senior News in which she affirms her advocacy of an expansion of Medicare program run by government and denounces private insurance alternatives forwarded by conservatives:
If you’ve been reading the paper lately, you know Congress is working on its perennial Medicare prescription drug benefit. While most folks I talk to want a drug benefit included in Medicare, they don’t want just any old proposal. People want a program that will benefit them.
It’s unfortunate that many features will have limited -- if any -- benefits for the average senior. Programs being discussed appear to be entirely separate from Medicare, offered by a separate insurance company.
It’s important to keep a close eye on features of a proposed prescription drug program. Prescriptions are an important a part of medical care and Medicare without a prescription drug program is inadequate. It is failing to meet the needs of seniors.
Criteria established by the Minnesota Senior Federation must be incorporated into any Medicare drug plan to ensure that it provides a meaningful benefit to seniors. It must:
-- provide a defined benefit under Medicare, available to all beneficiaries;
-- be available under both traditional fee-for-service Medicare and Medicare+ Choice managed care;
-- have no gaps in coverage leaving seniors uncovered after they spend a specified amount on prescriptions;
-- have affordable premiums and copays;
-- provide incentives for employers to maintain drug coverage for employees and retirees;
-- provide for negotiation with drug manufacturers for reasonable prescription drug prices; and
-- maintain competition by allowing importation of lower-priced prescription drugs from other industrialized nations....
END of Excerpt
That’s online at: www.mnseniors.net
On CBS’s favorite senior, Viola Quiron (how CBS spelled it), or Quirion (how CNSNews.com spelled it), a repeat recitation from the July 15 CyberAlert of a July 14 story by Marc Morano of the MRC’s CNSNews.com, “Networks Blamed for Using Political Activists as Repeat 'Victims.'” The excerpt:
An elderly political activist who was repeatedly portrayed by CBS News as a typical victim of the high cost of prescription drugs, now admits the network "probably" should have disclosed her lobbying interests during her numerous on-air appearances.
Viola Quirion, who favors the Medicare reforms that would provide elderly Americans like herself with a federally subsidized prescription drug plan, might not be considered a typical senior citizen to many people -- given her extensive political lobbying background, which includes advocating on behalf of the Alliance for Retired Persons.
But that's the way she was portrayed by CBS News on at least three occasions since 1999 -- most recently in May of this year.
When asked by CNSNews.com whether CBS News should have identified her as a political activist for reasons of fairness and accuracy, Quirion responded: "Well, probably."
Quirion has testified on Capitol Hill on behalf of the Alliance for Retired Americans. The group's stated goal is to "ensure social and economic justice" by "enroll[ing] and mobiliz[ing] retired union members and other senior and community activists into a nationwide grassroots movement advocating a progressive political and social agenda."
Quirion, who is a member of the Maine Council of Senior Citizens, also participated in the state of Maine's successful legal defense of its drug price control plan. Yet, CBS News never revealed any of Quirion's background when using her as a source in its news stories.
But Quirion maintains that her appearances on CBS News were benign.
"I just got interviewed and answered their questions and that's it," she explained....
In June, the Media Research Center (MRC), the parent organization of CNSNews.com, exposed the practice of network news programs recycling senior citizen activists for health care policy debates. The MRC revealed that both the CBS Evening News and ABC World News Tonight featured senior citizen Eva Baer-Schenkein in two separate broadcasts, two years apart, complaining about different ailments and why the Republican prescription drug plan was inadequate.
....CBS News appears to have repeatedly failed to reveal the backgrounds of its interview subjects, according to a new study conducted by the website, www.RatherBiased.com. The network featured the same seven elderly women 23 times during its coverage of the prescription drug subsidy debate without disclosing the political activist backgrounds of the women, the study alleged....
CBS spokeswoman Sandy Genelius told CNSNews.com that the network would "check it out," referring to the network's repeated use of the same senior citizen activists. However after several days of phone calls and e-mails, Genelius failed to respond to questions for this article.
END of Excerpt
For the article in full: www.cnsnews.com
Previous CyberAlert items on the networks portraying liberal activists as typical seniors:
-- What a coincidence. Two years apart CBS News and ABC News featured the same elderly woman, in news stories about the need for a new prescription drug coverage program in Medicare and the shortcomings of Republican-pushed alternatives, as the poster victim of high prescription prices. See: www.mediaresearch.org
-- More evidence that the supposedly typical victims of high prescription costs featured by the networks are hardly average seniors. They are really political activists who are part of a political lobbying campaign by a liberal group, the AARP, which consistently pushes for ever bigger government and more spending. NBC's Norah O'Donnell highlighted this victim: "77-year-old Pat Roussos of Connecticut, who suffers from arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure. Her out-of-pocket drug costs now, as much as $6,500 a year." But, Roussos is really a top dog in an AARP state chapter. See: www.mediaresearch.org
-- Brent Baker
Viola Quirion - The House Committee on Energy and Commerce
W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, Chairman
http://energycommerce.house.gov/107/hearings/05232002Hearing573/Quirion984.htm
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Fueling Diagnoses For Medicare
WASHINGTON, March 4, 2003
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/03/03/politics/main542633.shtml
As CBS News Correspondent Joie Chen reports, like many older Americans, Viola Quirion faces tough choices over what she needs to survive.
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Quirion is also a member of the Maine Council of Senior Citizens and an activist for the Alliance for Retired Americans, an organization which seeks to “ensure social and economic justice” by “enroll[ing] and mobiliz[ing] retired union members and other senior and community activists into a nationwide grassroots movement advocating a progressive political and social agenda.”
During her five appearances on CBS, Quirion’s political activities were never revealed. She has also appeared in wide array of news outlets including the Associated Press, Time, Newsweek, the Boston Globe, NPR’s Marketplace, the Hartford Courant, in addition to newspapers in her home state.6
Despite Quirion’s status as a virtual poster girl of liberalism, CBS’s Chen allowed her to pass herself off as an average elderly woman:
http://ratherbiased.com/content/prescription_drugs.htm
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Seniors Take A Bus To Canada To Be Able To Afford Their Prescription Drugs On Their Limited Income
CBS News 60 Minutes — October 17, 1999
Ms. VIOLA QUIRION: By the time I pay my rent and I pay my supplement insurance, which don't cover prescriptions, I don't have much left over.
(Footage of Viola Quirion at medicine cabinet; Quirion in living room; Quirion in kitchen)
WALLACE: (Voiceover) Viola Quirion is a 73-year-old retiree from Waterville, Maine. She spends nearly a quarter of her $ 900 monthly income on the drugs her doctor has prescribed: Relafen for severe arthritis in her knees and back, and Prilosec for a stomach disorder. Never married, she worked for four decades in the local Hathaway shirt factory for a salary just above minimum wage.
http://www.house.gov/bernie/publications/articles/1999-10-17-pharm-cbs.html
When a story comes along that doesn't fit any of tehir templates, they still try to make it fit anyway OR simply don't report it at all.
Michael
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