First 8 Days: ‘Gay’ Jason Collins 2,381 News Stories; Gosnell Abortion-Murder Trial 115 Stories – 1,970% Difference in Coverage

In the eight days since NBA player Jason Collins announced he was gay, the news media have covered the story in 2,381 places. But in the first eight days of the trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell and his “House of Horrors” abortion business, the media covered the story in 115 places, meaning that Collins’ “gay” news received more than 1,970.4% more news coverage.

In addition, a search of the news coverage of the Gosnell trial that started 49 days ago on Mar. 18, shows there have been 1,876 stories, which is still less than the 2,381 Collins stories over the last 8 days – a 27% difference in coverage, still in Collins’ favor.

Jason Collins, who plays center for the Washington Wizards, announced he was a homosexual in a self-written article for the Sports Illustrated website on Apr. 29. Kermit Gosnell is charged with five counts of murder and 263 other criminal offenses related to his abortion business in Philadelphia; his trial started on Mar. 18 and the jury currently is still deliberating.

A general Nexis search of “All News” in English, for the first eight days in each case, shows the following: a search for “Jason Collins” and “gay” (between Apr. 19 and May 6) reveals 2,381 news stories; a search for “Kermit Gosnell” and “abortion” (between Mar. 18 and Mar. 24) pulls up 115 stories.

A Nexis “All News” search retrieves stories from newspapers, blogs, newswires, news transcripts, news, aggregate news sources, magazines, journals, newsletters and web-based publications.
APTOPIX Jason Collins Comes Out Basketball

In this photo provided by ABC, NBA basketball veteran Jason Collins, left, poses for a photo with television journalist George Stephanopoulos, Monday, April 29, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/ABC, Eric McCandless)

That means that in the first eight days of coverage, there were 2,266 more news stories about Jason Collins coming out of the closet as gay than news stories about Gosnell who, specifically, is charged with killing four babies born alive during abortions by snipping their spinal cords with surgical scissors. The fifth murder charge against Gosnell concerns a woman who died from an anesthesia-overdose.

Some of the other 263 criminal charges against Gosnell include conspiracy, solicitation, infanticide, theft by deception, corruption of minors, and tampering with or fabricating evidence. The grand jury report on the Gosnell case states there were “hundreds of ‘snippings,’” and that Gosnell “committed hundreds of acts of infanticide.”

The difference in coverage between the two stories from when each broke – Collins’ announcement and the start of the Gosnell trial – and for eight days thereafter, is 1,970.43%.