Lies, Damn Lies, and the Mainstream Media (Part I)
More on Channel 4's Nancy Amons and her false story of a man being cut from TennCare.
Your crack staff here at "Bring the Noise" has obtained copies of emails exchanged between Amons and officials of both the Bureau of TennCare and the Department of Human Services. The state has Amons dead to rights on this one: she was clearly told that she was misrepresenting facts.
In an email dated 10/28/05, Amons asks, "Why was [the subject of the story] cut off from TennCare?" and "Why was he re-instated to TennCare?" Michelle Mowery-Johnson, DHS director of communications, replies to the first question, "[The subject] was never cut from TennCare." To the second, she answers, "Again, [the subject] was never disenrolled . . . he never lost medical coverage, so he didn't have to be re-instated."
In an 11/04 email demanding a correction, Mowery-Johnson informs Andrew Finlayson, Channel 4 news director, "[The subject] was NEVER cut off TennCare. In fact, Nancy was told several times in an e-mail . . . by me and on the phone by Michael Drescher of the TennCare Bureau that [the subject] never lost coverage."
Mowery-Johnson goes on to tell Finlayson that Amons has another story upcoming on a woman that she claims has been disenrolled. Same problem: this person has never been cut from TennCare.
As Mowery-Johnson concludes, "Both of these individuals show how the appeals process actually works."
Let's be clear: both of the individuals in questions received "Brown Forms." These were the forms that the state sent out to people that could potentially be disenrolled. Should the two people in question have been sent these forms? According to the state, no. But these forms asked for further information that the state would then use to determine if the people were in fact subject to disenrollment. TennCare coverage was not ended for a single person until this process was completed.
In both cases examined by Amons, the folks were Medicaid-eligible. They provided futher info. They stayed on TennCare. No disruption of coverage. End of story . . .
Except that it wasn't the end of the story because Amons chose to intentionally mislead the public.
But it gets worse.
At 9:36 AM on 11/03 (the day her story ran), Amons sent out a mass email touting her 10 o'clock story: "DHS computer glitches may have caused tens of thousands of people to be cut off [of TennCare] who should not have been."
At 1:59 on 11/03, Mowery-Johnson sent Finlayson a lengthy email stating that she had contacted Amons after receiving her email to explain "that there are no computer glitches that 'may have caused tens of thousands of people to be cut off who should not have been.'"
Further, Mowery-Johnson informs Finlayson that she had the department's director of Medicaid and TennCare policy call Amons to explain that no computer error led to the Brown Forms being sent to the man in question. It was "HUMAN error that did not catch [this] particular case."
Again, after being told that her "facts" were incorrect, Amons knowingly ran her false story, including blatant whoppers like:
"Turns out TennCare made a mistake and the state has no idea how many people . . . have been cut off by accident."
And what was Finlayson's reaction to all of this? Remember, he's the guy in charge of the news room; he holds the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that his reporters tell the truth.
He says that "we are all lucky" to have someone like Nancy Amons reporting the news. He discussed it with Amons, and she decided a correction "is not appropriate."
For her part, Mowery-Johnson closed her email conversation with the stand-up-guy news director with this:
"Because Nancy has failed to listen to and accurately report important facts involving this very serious and complex topic, her story at 10 had a gross error. DHS has grave concerns about future stories and how accurately they may or may not be portrayed on Channel 4 News."
Very diplomatic of the state, but let's cut to the chase here.
Channel 4 News, like most of the mainstream media, is not interested in the truth. It is only interested in ratings. This piece is a sweeps fabrication. Why did Amons lie? Because if she told the truth, there's no sexy story that might generate ratings. What kinds of teaser is this?
"State does its job well. Film at 10."
Oh, boy, that oughta titillate viewers.
No, Amons screwed around with the facts and made up a story about faulty computer programs erroneously kicking people off public assistance rolls.
In other words, she fed us a bunch of bunk.
How long is the public going to let this sort of crap go on in the media?
Your crack staff here at "Bring the Noise" has obtained copies of emails exchanged between Amons and officials of both the Bureau of TennCare and the Department of Human Services. The state has Amons dead to rights on this one: she was clearly told that she was misrepresenting facts.
In an email dated 10/28/05, Amons asks, "Why was [the subject of the story] cut off from TennCare?" and "Why was he re-instated to TennCare?" Michelle Mowery-Johnson, DHS director of communications, replies to the first question, "[The subject] was never cut from TennCare." To the second, she answers, "Again, [the subject] was never disenrolled . . . he never lost medical coverage, so he didn't have to be re-instated."
In an 11/04 email demanding a correction, Mowery-Johnson informs Andrew Finlayson, Channel 4 news director, "[The subject] was NEVER cut off TennCare. In fact, Nancy was told several times in an e-mail . . . by me and on the phone by Michael Drescher of the TennCare Bureau that [the subject] never lost coverage."
Mowery-Johnson goes on to tell Finlayson that Amons has another story upcoming on a woman that she claims has been disenrolled. Same problem: this person has never been cut from TennCare.
As Mowery-Johnson concludes, "Both of these individuals show how the appeals process actually works."
Let's be clear: both of the individuals in questions received "Brown Forms." These were the forms that the state sent out to people that could potentially be disenrolled. Should the two people in question have been sent these forms? According to the state, no. But these forms asked for further information that the state would then use to determine if the people were in fact subject to disenrollment. TennCare coverage was not ended for a single person until this process was completed.
In both cases examined by Amons, the folks were Medicaid-eligible. They provided futher info. They stayed on TennCare. No disruption of coverage. End of story . . .
Except that it wasn't the end of the story because Amons chose to intentionally mislead the public.
But it gets worse.
At 9:36 AM on 11/03 (the day her story ran), Amons sent out a mass email touting her 10 o'clock story: "DHS computer glitches may have caused tens of thousands of people to be cut off [of TennCare] who should not have been."
At 1:59 on 11/03, Mowery-Johnson sent Finlayson a lengthy email stating that she had contacted Amons after receiving her email to explain "that there are no computer glitches that 'may have caused tens of thousands of people to be cut off who should not have been.'"
Further, Mowery-Johnson informs Finlayson that she had the department's director of Medicaid and TennCare policy call Amons to explain that no computer error led to the Brown Forms being sent to the man in question. It was "HUMAN error that did not catch [this] particular case."
Again, after being told that her "facts" were incorrect, Amons knowingly ran her false story, including blatant whoppers like:
"Turns out TennCare made a mistake and the state has no idea how many people . . . have been cut off by accident."
And what was Finlayson's reaction to all of this? Remember, he's the guy in charge of the news room; he holds the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that his reporters tell the truth.
He says that "we are all lucky" to have someone like Nancy Amons reporting the news. He discussed it with Amons, and she decided a correction "is not appropriate."
For her part, Mowery-Johnson closed her email conversation with the stand-up-guy news director with this:
"Because Nancy has failed to listen to and accurately report important facts involving this very serious and complex topic, her story at 10 had a gross error. DHS has grave concerns about future stories and how accurately they may or may not be portrayed on Channel 4 News."
Very diplomatic of the state, but let's cut to the chase here.
Channel 4 News, like most of the mainstream media, is not interested in the truth. It is only interested in ratings. This piece is a sweeps fabrication. Why did Amons lie? Because if she told the truth, there's no sexy story that might generate ratings. What kinds of teaser is this?
"State does its job well. Film at 10."
Oh, boy, that oughta titillate viewers.
No, Amons screwed around with the facts and made up a story about faulty computer programs erroneously kicking people off public assistance rolls.
In other words, she fed us a bunch of bunk.
How long is the public going to let this sort of crap go on in the media?
posted by HitMan | 3:53 PM
1 Comments:
She was nude in Playboy too, and has done stories against pornography.
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