A link to a YNN “news” article and video came across the Twittersphere this evening and caught my eye because it mentioned a candidate that I am keenly interested in. The headline referred to Ann Marie Buerkle, who is the candidate for the Republican and Conservative parties running in New York Congressional District 25 Against Dan Maffei. I have heard Buerkle speak on numerous occasions about her views on the health care reform bill. The YNN bill claimed that she was defending her stance.

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The event that was being covered was, from what I could tell, three to five women from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) protesting and  holding a large banner in front of an unknown building in Syracuse.  I quickly noted that the story might have asserted a falsehood.  The transcript read “Ann Marie Buerkle, who wants to replace democrat Dan Maffei, and who is a nurse, has said she would repeal most of the reform plan with the exception of safeguards for pre-existing conditions and allowances for children to remain on parents’ insurance plans for several additional years.”  I have never heard Buerkle say anything other than her opinion that the health care bill needs to be repealed in its entirety and that Congress needed to start over in order to legislate solutions for much needed health care reform. I spoke with Ann Marie Buerkle again this evening in Monroe County at a meeting of a select group of about 30 volunteers and supporters.  She reaffirmed her unwavering stance regarding health care reform.  Furthermore, she revealed that she was never interviewed by any member of the media regarding the YNN story.

It appears then that this YNN story is misleading and factually incorrect.  With its headline “Buerkle defends stance on health care bill”, along with the transcript, it gave the impression that there was an active debate going on between the SEIU protesters and Buerkle, when in fact, there existed nothing of the sort.  Also, the stance that Buerkle was supposedly defending appears to have been contrived or drawn from a third party, and not Buerkle herself as was indicated.  My assessment is that YNN has deliberately or otherwise participated in the dissemination of a blatantly slanted message from a non-newsworthy political opposition group.  Coincidentally, I’m sure, the group just happens to be a progressive group very much supportive of Congressman Dan Maffei, who voted for the health care bill in March, against the wishes of the majority of his constituents in NY District 25.

I conclude that Time Warner’s YNN media outlet has demonstrated a severe lack integrity in this story.  While YNN purportedly stands for “YOUR NEWS NOW”, I contend that a more appropriate appellation might be YELLOW NEWS NETWORK.  Is it any wonder that more people are turning to independent news sources in New Media for the truth?