Jump to full article: Lodi (CA) News-Sentinel, 2009-04-08
Author: Steve Hansen
Intro: According to a recent Zogby poll, Americans believe media bias is alive and well. Almost 2 out of 3, or 64 percent, say the media lean left. . . .
This perception is really nothing new. My father, Dr. Louis S. Hansen, was vice chairman of the Division of Forensic Pathology, School of Medicine, at the University of California, San Francisco. He was considered a world authority on diseases of the mouth, especially oral cancer. This background often led to him being called as an expert witness in civil litigation.
One of his most famous trials took place in 1986 in Oklahoma City. The case involved a 19-year-old youth named Sean Marsee, who had died from cancer of the tongue. His mother sued the U.S. Tobacco Company, claiming her son's death was a result of using snuff.
My father testified for the tobacco company . . .
The story was followed nationally and picked up by several newspapers. It also found a place on "60 Minutes" and in Readers Digest.
Whether the public got the full story or not depended upon what media outlet was used. The most accurate and complete accounts were found in Southern newspapers. For example, the Dallas Morning News, via an Associated Press story by Judy Gibbs, reported the trial evidence, including testimony by University of Texas professor Dr. John Helfrick, who agreed with Hansen's conclusions. . . .
Were the facts in the Washington Post story accurate? Yes. Did the writer leave out important information as to how the jury reached its conclusion? Yes. Did the story lead the reader to believe the jury may have had erred in its decision -- or that justice had not been served? You be the judge.
Perhaps Mark Twain was correct when he said, "If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed."
On the other hand, a Washington Post story, also picked up by The Sacramento Bee, on June 21, 1986, failed to mention any of the specific facts presented at trial by the two professors. Instead, comments were made such as " ... the tobacco industry has never lost or settled a product-liability lawsuit," and "Two of the four women jurors cried ... "
Jump to full article » |