Yesterday the President held a a town hall in Portsmouth, NH in which 1,800 people respectfully listened to his remarks on the success of the Stimulus plan and the current debate underway on health care reform.  They applauded when he called for a more civil debate of the issues.  Outside the hall were many demonstrators - over 1,500.  Some were there to protest against Obama, carrying signs like "Obamacare Makes Me Sick."  Others were there to support the President, carrying signs reading "Reform Now - Insure People, Not Profits."  I was not there but I did watch the raw footage of the demonstrators shot by CBS and posted on their website.  And you can watch it too - here.  But if you happened to tune in to the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric last night what you saw instead was this. 

When I watched them back to back I was stunned.  In the first Obama supporters offer sane comments about why they support health care reform now, balancing out the Anti-Obama demonstrators who seem cranky and crazy in comparison.  In the second link - the one watched by many more Americans who tuned in to the Evening News mind you - you will find only Obama inside and anti-Obama protesters outside railing against his socialist policies.  The pro-Obama forces present are nowhere to be seen - erased.  Why?  Because they don't fit the narrative the so-called liberal mainstream media is pushing - an embattled President struggling to get his message across - under fire from an angry mob.  Putting their slant right up front, the CBS segment was entitled "Anger Management."

CBS missed a chance to inform the American people on a critical debate raging around a complex issue - letting the sounds and sights of the protest line in Portsmouth speak for themselves.  On one side a woman interviewed spoke about why the Public Option makes sense to her as a way to keep the insurance companies in check.  On the other a man relayed how he pays for his own insurance and he is not about to pay for someone who has none.  On one side a drumming group sits in front of a sign reading Health Services for Women.  On the other a cute little girl holds a sign reading "Obama lies, Grandma dies."  Powerful stuff. 

Remember wen the Evening News covered the Civil Rights struggles or the Vietnam protests?  Imagine if the Portsmouth story was reported like that.  Americans could have watched what happened in Portsmouth and drawn their own conclusions.  But that was CBS then.  This is CBS now.
 
The CBS News team's failure to report the facts of what happened in Portsmouth would be a journalistic disgrace if what they were practicing was truly journalism.  But that word seems old, something best used in the context of Morrow and Cronkite - back when reporters fought to get the story right and called it like they saw it.

So what to do we need to do?  Show up with 10 times as many protesters as the other side?  100 times?  March on Washington?  How can we hope to get our story across when CBS outdoes Fox in the real-time revision of history department.  It is easy to fall into despair.

But hope trumps fear, remember?  We learned that in the campaign.  So let's hope the MSM can get the story straight if we begin holding them accountable for doing their job.

Let's start today by writing to CBS today demanding that they run a story on the Evening News on the rising chorus of voices in support of the President's Health Care Reform initiative.

Here is the email address for The CBS Evening News: 

evening@cbsnews.com

And a sample comment you can send to the Editors there:

Last night you aired a segment called "Anger Management" which covered the President's town hall in Portsmouth, NH.  Your images and narration highlighted those protesting the President's policies but, unlike the raw footage of the event posted on your website, completely eliminated any reference to the many supporters who were also present.  Please correct this factual error in tonight's CBS Evening News in a story on the increasing numbers of people coming out in support of Health Care Reform along the lines Obama has recommended.