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Pew Study Favors Health Care Opponents

A new study shows that opponents of President Barack Obama's health care plan clearly beat supporters in getting their message across through the media. More from WAMC’s Dave Lucas…

The study released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism found that opponents won because their positions were sharper and easier to understand. The critics also more frequently drove coverage, particularly when Tea Party demonstrations came to the fore.

Pew director Tom Rosenstiel said the competition wasn't even close.

The study took the three main themes put across by both opponents and supporters and measured how often they were seen in coverage. The anti-health care messages were seen 18,181 times while supporters were heard from 10,883 times.

Dave Lucas, WAMC News. 

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved. 

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.