How Media Has Covered the Health Care Debate

Mark Jurkowitz, Associate Director, the Project for Excellence in Journalism; Journalist and Writer

Next week, the Supreme Court is expected to issue its ruling on some aspects of the Affordable Care Act, including whether a federal mandate to purchase health insurance is Constitutional. The legal challenge to so-called "Obama Care" has brought the debate over health care back into the national spotlight. According to new research conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, most of the coverage of the health care debate by mainstream media since 2009 has been focused on the politics surrounding the legislation, and not the substance. Craig Cohen talks with Mark Jurkowitz, Associate Director of Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, about the results of the research.