Fluffy Reading Eagle story about hospitals serves bigwigs, not public

By Steve Reinbrecht

Another non-story on the front page of our award-winning Reading Eagle newspaper adds to my wonder about the editors’ agenda. There is some meaning in the story, but you have to read between the lines.

It’s on a vitally important topic – how the absorption of our second hospital by the leviathan Penn State-Hershey medical conglomerate will affect health care in Berks County.

The sub-headline states: “Penn State, St. Joe officials discuss how merger can enhance patient care.”

If they did, the story doesn’t mention how patients will benefit. Or maybe one example – now you might be diagnosed online: “A new telestroke program has allowed neurologists at Penn State Hershey to evaluate stroke patients via computer and a webcam system and then coordinate care with St. Joseph emergency doctors. That program has kept more and more patients in Berks for care.”

“How patient care will change is part of an exciting brainstorming process, hospital officials said Wednesday,” we learn in the second paragraph. “They aim … to offer better care at lower cost.”

Doesn’t this sound like an advertisement?

“[The dean of Penn State’s college of medicine] said the ultimate focus will be to provide the best care for residents at the lowest possible price.”

Kind of like Wal-Mart.

Top executives “discussed the acquisition … Wednesday.” Where? Some secret location? Did the Eagle reporter join them?

If he did, did he ask any questions? Do you expect layoffs? Have there been layoffs in similar acquisitions? How will patient care change? [See subhead.] What changes will patients see? When will they see them? How will the merger affect local health-care problems described in the recent Berks County health assessment and vital-signs reports? 

“In the new model, often called the population health model, hospitals and health systems will be challenged to keep the communities they serve healthy over time.”

Most people outside Reading have pretty good health care, including insurance and access. Not so in the city. Why not ask about that?

One possibility is that someone really important told the newspaper editors they needed more stories about how wonderful this merger is, so the editors manufactured this story.

It’s too bad for all of us that the editors at our primary newsgathering institution are more worried about appearances than content. Don’t they know it’s their job to clear up official blather rather than spread it?

This story’s placement, lack of content, lack of purpose and lack of skepticism serves the establishment, not the community. Stories like this make it seem like the Eagle serves the powerful before it serves its readers. That would be anti-journalism!