SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) gestures during the first round of the second Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season hosted by CNN at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan on July 30, 2019. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
'The Healthcare Industry Will Be Advertising Tonight': Sanders Calls Out CNN for Airing Pharma Commercials During 2020 Debate
"If Medicare for All was on trial, the entire corporate media would have to recuse itself for a y-u-g-e conflict of interest."
Jul 31, 2019
It was "like clockwork."
In the middle of a heated back-and-forth on Medicare for All at the beginning of Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate in Detroit, Sen. Bernie Sanders called out CNN for airing anti-single payer ads from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries during commercial breaks.
"By the way, the healthcare industry will be advertising tonight on this program," Sanders said after accusing CNN moderator Jake Tapper of deploying "a Republican talking point" against Medicare for All. "They will be advertising tonight with that talking point."
Sure enough, during the debate's commercial breaks, ads by pharmaceutical giants and industry-backed organizations dominated the airwaves, further vindicating Sanders and other progressives who have raised alarm at the role corporate advertising plays in America's media coverage.
As Variety reported last week, CNN--which is owned by AT&T--required "a commitment of $300,000 in advertising on the network before a potential sponsor can purchase commercials within the two debate telecasts."
The American Prospect's David Dayen noted that, in addition to ads from the pharmaceutical lobby, the debate's breaks also featured commercials from "the anti-single payer group Partnership for America's Health Care Future (PAHCF), funded by hospitals and drug companies, and an Alzheimer's disease patient advocacy group that takes major funding from drug companies."
"The unfiltered 90 seconds of three of these commercials in succession comprised more screen time than anything in the debate about money in politics," Dayen wrote. "The country cannot afford to have CNN creating the proscenium through which America gets informed."
Pointing to the PAHCF commercial--which is part of a six-figure ad campaign against Medicare for All--Warren Gunnels, Sanders's staff director, tweeted, "If Medicare for All was on trial, the entire corporate media would have to recuse itself for a y-u-g-e conflict of interest."
Sanders's CNN call-out came at the tail end of the debate's healthcare segment, which was largely driven by a question that progressives said disingenuously framed Medicare for All as a tax increase on the middle class, rather than a cost-saving overhaul of the nation's broken healthcare system.
"Jake, your question is a Republican talking point," Sanders told CNN's Tapper.
The debate moderators were not the only ones accused of parroting right-wing attacks against Medicare for All Tuesday night.
After former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) called Medicare for All "bad policy" and suggested it would take healthcare away from millions of Americans--a line that was echoed by other right-wing Democratic candidates on the debate stage--Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) hit back.
"We are not about trying to take away healthcare from anyone. That's what the Republicans are trying to do," said Warren, a co-sponsor of Sanders's Medicare for All bill in the Senate. "And we should stop using Republican talking points in order to talk with each other about how to best provide that healthcare."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
It was "like clockwork."
In the middle of a heated back-and-forth on Medicare for All at the beginning of Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate in Detroit, Sen. Bernie Sanders called out CNN for airing anti-single payer ads from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries during commercial breaks.
"By the way, the healthcare industry will be advertising tonight on this program," Sanders said after accusing CNN moderator Jake Tapper of deploying "a Republican talking point" against Medicare for All. "They will be advertising tonight with that talking point."
Sure enough, during the debate's commercial breaks, ads by pharmaceutical giants and industry-backed organizations dominated the airwaves, further vindicating Sanders and other progressives who have raised alarm at the role corporate advertising plays in America's media coverage.
As Variety reported last week, CNN--which is owned by AT&T--required "a commitment of $300,000 in advertising on the network before a potential sponsor can purchase commercials within the two debate telecasts."
The American Prospect's David Dayen noted that, in addition to ads from the pharmaceutical lobby, the debate's breaks also featured commercials from "the anti-single payer group Partnership for America's Health Care Future (PAHCF), funded by hospitals and drug companies, and an Alzheimer's disease patient advocacy group that takes major funding from drug companies."
"The unfiltered 90 seconds of three of these commercials in succession comprised more screen time than anything in the debate about money in politics," Dayen wrote. "The country cannot afford to have CNN creating the proscenium through which America gets informed."
Pointing to the PAHCF commercial--which is part of a six-figure ad campaign against Medicare for All--Warren Gunnels, Sanders's staff director, tweeted, "If Medicare for All was on trial, the entire corporate media would have to recuse itself for a y-u-g-e conflict of interest."
Sanders's CNN call-out came at the tail end of the debate's healthcare segment, which was largely driven by a question that progressives said disingenuously framed Medicare for All as a tax increase on the middle class, rather than a cost-saving overhaul of the nation's broken healthcare system.
"Jake, your question is a Republican talking point," Sanders told CNN's Tapper.
The debate moderators were not the only ones accused of parroting right-wing attacks against Medicare for All Tuesday night.
After former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) called Medicare for All "bad policy" and suggested it would take healthcare away from millions of Americans--a line that was echoed by other right-wing Democratic candidates on the debate stage--Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) hit back.
"We are not about trying to take away healthcare from anyone. That's what the Republicans are trying to do," said Warren, a co-sponsor of Sanders's Medicare for All bill in the Senate. "And we should stop using Republican talking points in order to talk with each other about how to best provide that healthcare."
It was "like clockwork."
In the middle of a heated back-and-forth on Medicare for All at the beginning of Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate in Detroit, Sen. Bernie Sanders called out CNN for airing anti-single payer ads from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries during commercial breaks.
"By the way, the healthcare industry will be advertising tonight on this program," Sanders said after accusing CNN moderator Jake Tapper of deploying "a Republican talking point" against Medicare for All. "They will be advertising tonight with that talking point."
Sure enough, during the debate's commercial breaks, ads by pharmaceutical giants and industry-backed organizations dominated the airwaves, further vindicating Sanders and other progressives who have raised alarm at the role corporate advertising plays in America's media coverage.
As Variety reported last week, CNN--which is owned by AT&T--required "a commitment of $300,000 in advertising on the network before a potential sponsor can purchase commercials within the two debate telecasts."
The American Prospect's David Dayen noted that, in addition to ads from the pharmaceutical lobby, the debate's breaks also featured commercials from "the anti-single payer group Partnership for America's Health Care Future (PAHCF), funded by hospitals and drug companies, and an Alzheimer's disease patient advocacy group that takes major funding from drug companies."
"The unfiltered 90 seconds of three of these commercials in succession comprised more screen time than anything in the debate about money in politics," Dayen wrote. "The country cannot afford to have CNN creating the proscenium through which America gets informed."
Pointing to the PAHCF commercial--which is part of a six-figure ad campaign against Medicare for All--Warren Gunnels, Sanders's staff director, tweeted, "If Medicare for All was on trial, the entire corporate media would have to recuse itself for a y-u-g-e conflict of interest."
Sanders's CNN call-out came at the tail end of the debate's healthcare segment, which was largely driven by a question that progressives said disingenuously framed Medicare for All as a tax increase on the middle class, rather than a cost-saving overhaul of the nation's broken healthcare system.
"Jake, your question is a Republican talking point," Sanders told CNN's Tapper.
The debate moderators were not the only ones accused of parroting right-wing attacks against Medicare for All Tuesday night.
After former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) called Medicare for All "bad policy" and suggested it would take healthcare away from millions of Americans--a line that was echoed by other right-wing Democratic candidates on the debate stage--Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) hit back.
"We are not about trying to take away healthcare from anyone. That's what the Republicans are trying to do," said Warren, a co-sponsor of Sanders's Medicare for All bill in the Senate. "And we should stop using Republican talking points in order to talk with each other about how to best provide that healthcare."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.