***To read the full blog please check out the cross-post on NewsBusters***
Members of the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill rolled out their replacement for ObamaCare on Tuesday, and it immediately drew fire from both the left and the right. But you really wouldn’t know that if you watching NBC Nightly News that evening where their main concern was that of the liberals. The network allowed two minutes five seconds to slamming the bill from the liberal perspective while giving a mere five seconds to conservatives. And they mischaracterized their position entirely.
“Tonight Republican leaders are defending their plan from fiscal conservatives who complain it's too generous,” was all reporter Tom Costello said about the conservative position on the bill. He didn’t even get a quote from any conservative member of Congress who was opposed to the bill. They even held a press conference which he could have pulled a clip from.
Yet, Costello included a clip of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who declared, “TrumpCare means higher cost for less health care. Plain and simple.” He also interviewed a George Washington University professor, who claimed that, “The losers in this are lower income people who need financial assistance to be able to buy coverage that’s affordable for them.”
NBC reporter himself got into the act, reporting on “Another controversy, Republicans want the freeze Medicaid enrollment for low-income Americans in 2020. Freeze it, then give states money to pay for the coverage. But many analysts say it won't be enough.”