Top Stories of 2009 | #7: No, Obama won't kill grandma
As the year draws to a close, Facing South is taking a look back at the big stories that shaped the region and the top 10 stories we did at FS that made a big splash. Here's #7:
#7 - NO, OBAMA WON'T KILL GRANDMA
Remember Sarah Palin's death panels? What seemed like a moment of Facebook insanity quickly turned into a media maelstrom that threatened to completely derail health reform.Palin knew what she was doing: Timed just as members of Congress were heading into raucus August town hall meetings, the charge that Democrats wanted bureaucrats to pull the plug on the elderly was squarely aimed at frightening a key bloc of swing voters -- seniors.
But Facing South played a key role in exposing the death panel debate for the farce it was.
The Monday after Palin's Facebook tirade, FS revealed that a key architect of the end of life counseling Palin was referring to was actually a pro-life Republican: Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia.
Facing South's investigation sparked national media coverage and immediately helped turn the death panel debate.
Bloggers at Firedoglake and The Huffington Post gave our piece front-page billing. The Washington Post featured our coverage, and went on to interview Sen. Isakson -- who called Palin's claim "nuts."
By the end of Monday, Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow at MSNBC were giving national exposure to our findings, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, NPR, USA Today and dozens of other media outlets soon followed.
It was great to see Facing South have such a big impact on such an important issue. But as I concluded in a piece reflecting on the saga:
#7 - NO, OBAMA WON'T KILL GRANDMARemember Sarah Palin's death panels? What seemed like a moment of Facebook insanity quickly turned into a media maelstrom that threatened to completely derail health reform.Palin knew what she was doing: Timed just as members of Congress were heading into raucus August town hall meetings, the charge that Democrats wanted bureaucrats to pull the plug on the elderly was squarely aimed at frightening a key bloc of swing voters -- seniors.
But Facing South played a key role in exposing the death panel debate for the farce it was.
The Monday after Palin's Facebook tirade, FS revealed that a key architect of the end of life counseling Palin was referring to was actually a pro-life Republican: Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia.
Facing South's investigation sparked national media coverage and immediately helped turn the death panel debate.
Bloggers at Firedoglake and The Huffington Post gave our piece front-page billing. The Washington Post featured our coverage, and went on to interview Sen. Isakson -- who called Palin's claim "nuts."
By the end of Monday, Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow at MSNBC were giving national exposure to our findings, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, NPR, USA Today and dozens of other media outlets soon followed.
It was great to see Facing South have such a big impact on such an important issue. But as I concluded in a piece reflecting on the saga:
It's a great example of how a well-reported and well-timed story --even by a smaller non-profit media operation like ours -- can changethe entire debate on an issue.Want to help Facing South keep breaking the big stories? Make a special, year-end tax-deductible gift to the Institute Investigative Fund -- and our new special project to train Southern bloggers, the Freedom Journalism School -- today! If you donate by December 31, 2009, a Facing South reader will match all gifts up to $10,000. Go pitch in now!
But a deeper question remains: How did Palin's obviously untrue allegations make it into the mainstream of media debate in the first place?
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Chris Kromm
Chris Kromm is executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies and publisher of the Institute's online magazine, Facing South.