In the wake of the Brittany Maynard media full court press to convince America to accept assisted suicide, comes 60 Minutes, interviewing a woman who was charged with assisting the suicide of her father, later dropped, who has advocated for legalization. Wanna bet there is only one side meaningfully presented?
60 Minutes has long been in favor of assisted suicide, so in the tank for the agenda it even aired a video Jack Kevorkian took of his murder by lethal injection of Thomas Youk. From my 1998 article in the Wall Street Journal, “A Snuff Film Comes to Prime Time:”
Mike Wallace morphed into Jerry Springer last Sunday night, as “60 Minutes” aired a videotape of Jack Kevorkian killing Thomas Youk, a 52-year-old man suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The decision to air the program–essentially a snuff film–was protested by disability-rights activists, several media commentators and some religious groups. A CBS spokesman brushed off the criticism, claiming that “60 Minutes” was merely “allowing Kevorkian to tell his story.” It’s a flimsy excuse. The program had two clear purposes: to boost ratings and to serve as propaganda for legalizing euthanasia…
If viewers wanted hard-hitting journalism to go along with their voyeurism, they were disappointed. The acerbic Mr. Wallace, who usually can be counted on to ask hard questions, treated Dr. Kevorkian with kid gloves. This is not surprising. It was Dr. Kevorkian who sought out Mr. Wallace, a well-known advocate of legalized euthanasia, as his interlocutor.
I will never forget Wallace repeatedly asking Kevorkian:”Is he dead yet? Is he dead yet?”
60 Minutes was also there to boost K when he was released from prison. From my 2007 article for NRO, “Dr. Death Returns:”
Jack Kevorkian is set to be released from prison today. Don’t expect Dr. Death to keep a low profile. He is already scheduled to appear on 60 Minutes, where he will be interviewed by euthanasia proponent Mike Wallace. After that, the rest of the media is likely to extravagantly tout Kevorkian as the compassionate, if eccentric, retired doctor who helped desperate, terminally ill people put themselves out of their misery.
And that is exactly what happened. Why, I hear the Muppets are going to soon include a fuzzy Jack Kevorkian puppet!
Make no mistake: 60 Minutes won’t be engaging in journalism Sunday night. Once again, it will be proselytizing for suicide.