Topic: NewsBusters
The Media Research Center is still having trouble coming to terms with the fact that the story about Michele Bachmann's migraines was broken by a conservative news outlet.
A July 23 NewsBusters post by Scott Whitlock does concede that the story was broken by the conservative Daily Caller, but it's only after complaining that "the three major networks devoted 12 minutes and 59 seconds to highlighting the 'campaign controversy' of Michele Bachmann's migraines." That's followed by further complaining that said networks identified the source of the story as conservative:
Jon Karl made sure label the Daily Caller, the source of the story: "The issue was first raised Monday be the conservative Daily Caller website, which quoted anonymous sources saying Bachmann frequently suffers from incapacitating headaches."
Both Today and Early show used the same description os the site as a "conservative" web page. "Liberal" is an ideological tag not as freely thrown around.
Whitlock doesn't criticize the Daily Caller for breaking the story -- only the networks for reporting it.
Aubrey Vaughan writes in a July 28 NewsBusters post headlined "Lefty Journos Find New Favorite Target in Bachmann":
First it was her migraines, then it was the cost of her hair and makeup, and now it's correlating her anti-gay views to bullying and suicides in a school district she represents. Rep. Michele Bachmann has in many ways become the new Sarah Palin as a prominent female target the media love to hate. Even when she responds to her critics, they don't seem to go away.
Bachmann suffers from migraines, like 30 million other Americans, but has proved through her career the migraines don't hinder her ability to serve. Nevertheless, she immediately released a statement from her doctor explaining her migraines are under control. In comparison, both former President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama had health issues that could have turned into major problems during their presidencies, but neither released their medical records. Clinton had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and clogged coronary arteries, while Obama was a longtime smoker with a family history of cancer.
The transparency of Bachmann's immediate medical explanation was not enough to satisfy critics, though, who have since found more ways to attack her.
At no point in all of this equivocation does Vaughan acknowledge that the migraine story originated with a conservative publication.
