Pundits, panels, but no policy: the normative role of cable news in communicating health care policy to the public

This dissertation examines cable news coverage of the unsuccessful effort by Republicans in 2017 to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, utilizing a qualitative content analysis to uncover problematic trends and techniques in how CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News reported on health care policy. This work adds to the current literature by focusing on cable news coverage of public policy debates in a non-election context, whereas most of the existing literature on the role of television news focuses on broadcast coverage of elections. Examining the use of partisan sound bites in straight news reports, the role of the cable news host in moderating discussion-based segments, and the types of guests invited to participate in cable news coverage of health care, this project argues that the confluence of the norms of political journalism, the profit motive undergirding the television news industry, and the prevalence of conservative misinformation on health care contributed to the manifestation of problematic biases and techniques in the cable news coverage of the GOP health care reform effort. The final chapter provides a series of recommendations for how cable news networks could improve coverage moving forward, intended to serve as a practical guide for those involved in the production of cable news moving forward, as attempts to repeal the Obama-era health law are likely to continue throughout the Trump Administration.