Fox News slants language of health care

As Congress took up health care reform last year, considering a "public option" to give insurers competition, marching orders went down to the troops from Bill Salmon, Washington, D.C., managing editor at Fox News.

The memo is a roadmap on how to subtly slant news, and get the right wing's "amen corner" fired up and ready to go.

"Subject: friendly reminder: lets not slip back into calling the 'public option'," wrote Salmon.

"1) Please use the term 'government-run health insurance' or, when brevity is a concern, 'government option' whenever possible; 2) When it is necessary to use the term 'public option' (which is, after all, firmly ensconced in the nation's lexicon) use the qualifier 'so-called' as in "the so-called public option'."

The timely advice came soon after Republican pollster Frank Luntz had offered on-air counsel to Fox host Sean Hannity.

"If you call it a public option, the American people are split," Luntz said. "If you call it a government option, the public is overwhelmingly against it."

"A grat point, and from now on, I'm going to call it the government option because that is what it is," replied Hannity, getting the message. Soon, his boss did too.

Luntz is famous for writing memos on tactics for spinning issues, particularly on how to seed doubt in the public's mind. And he gives sales advice, telling House Republicans how to market Newt Gingrich's 1994 "Contract With America."

Of course, both sides massage their message. Bill Clinton used to pour over the crosstabs of polls that test-marketed not only themes, but slogans and possible wording of speeches.

But the political right, and its corporate paymasters, carry the art to new heights of cynicism. A famous 2003 Luntz missive advised Republicans on "the environmental communications battle" -- specifically, how to create doubt on climate issues.

The phrase "global warming" had to be jettisoned in favor of "climate change," Luntz wrote, and the GOP should start using the phrase "conservationist" to describe its stands. Why? Because "environmentalist" carries negative connotations and "most people" believe environmentalists are "extremists."

Joel Connelly has been a staff columnist for more than 30 years. He comments regularly on politics and public policy. Joel Connelly has been a staff columnist for more than 30 years. He comments regularly on politics and public policy.

On global warming, oops, climate change, Luntz advised: "The scientific debate is closing (against us) but not yet closed. There is still a window of opportunity to change the science.

"Voters believe that there is no consensus about global warming within the scientific community. Should the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly. Therefore, you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate."

The create-doubt strategy, honed in the 1960's by the tobacco industry, has been followed. Its greatest success is demonizing "cap and trade" (a 2008 McCain campaign theme) and flummoxing energy/climate legislation in the current Congress.

Behind the facade of Astroturf populism, Big Oil, Big Coal and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have breathed new life into the carbon economy and thwarted a national transition to new technologies.

Luntz popped up again this year as Congress took up new oversight of Wall Street. He penning a 17-page memo "The Language of Financial Reform" on how to redicted public anger.

The message: Take attention away from hedge funds, derivatives, insider trading and bank bailouts. Reframe the issue into a battle against government bureaucrats.

"This is your critical advantage," Luntz advised anti-reform forces. "Washington's incompetence is the common ground on which you can build support."

"Ordinarily, calling for a new government program 'to protect consumers' would be extrarodinarily popular. But these are not ordinary times. The American people are not just saying 'no,' but 'hell no' to more government agencies, more bureaucrats and more legislation crafted by special interests."

Luntz saw urged deployment of these themes to block creation of a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Foes needed to stress cost and regulation and (unnamed) damages the agency would do to "small business owners."

A twist on Obama's 2008 campaign theme was thrown in: "A new agency with new bureaucrats is not change we can believe in. It's not change at all."

Congress did create the consumer agency. It remains to be seen whether the new Republican-run House, with former lobbyists in key staff positions, will sabotage its operations.

Sammon's memo was obtained and released last week by the liberal watchdog group Media Matters. Howard Kurtz, longtime media reporter at The Washington Post, now with The Daily Beast, took a look at how quickly the message was massaged."

On "Special Report," the night of the memo, Washington, D.C. anchor Bret Baier started by promising "a look at the fight over government-run health insurance in the Senate reform bill." Capital correspondent Jim Angle spoke of "a government insurance plan, the so-called public option."

As Kurtz notes, 24 hours earlier, Baier kept referring to "the public option," a phrase also used by conservative pundit Charles Krauthammer.

The "iron triangle" of the political right -- corporations, conservative image-makers and right-wing media -- play their audience like Keith Richards plays the guitar.

The goal is always the same, demonize government as a means to throttle reform and preserve the status quo for its privileged beneficiaries.

Language is a tactic, to be deployed broadly and on all fronts.