Moore accuses CNN of 'libel'

Raw Story
Tuesday, July 10, 2007

A prominent documentarian is using new media to refute attacks leveled against him by the old media.

Michael Moore posted a lengthy critique of a CNN "Reality Check" that attacked his newest film SiCKO, which examines flaws in the US healthcare industry.

In a heated exchange with Situation Room host Wolf Blitzer -- the second part of which is set to air Tuesday at 7 p.m. -- Moore said the four-minute report, which aired immediately before his appearance, was "biased."

On his Web site, Moore and the "SiCKO Truth Squad" refuted many of the findings in Dr. Sanjay Gupta's reporting, which concluded that Moore "did fudge some facts" in the movie.

"This is libel," the Web site says. "There is not a single fact that is 'fudged' in the film. ... We expect CNN to correct their mistakes on the air and to apologize to their viewers."

Moore's Web site also posted links to discussions of his appearance on prominent liberal blogs, including Crooks and Liars, Huffington Post and Brad Blog. (Moore also linked to RAW STORY's report on the appearance posted Monday.)

Rachel Sklar, writing at Huffington Post, said the clip is "spreading around the net like wildfire," and Brad Blog's Brad Friedman applauded Moore's "dead on-target ass-whooping to the hapless Wolf Blitzer and friends."

Gupta backs up Moore's finding that the US healthcare system is No. 37 on the World Health Organization's rankings of healthcare systems around the globe. But Gupta encourages viewers to "hold on" before believing Cuba's healthcare system is better after Moore takes people there to receive treatment because Cuba ranks lower than the US, coming in at No. 39. SiCKO shows the WHO list, including Cuba's placement below the US, so Moore says he's not trying to deceive anyone.

"The fact that the healthcare system in an impoverished nation crippled by our decades-old blockade (including medical supplies and drugs) ranks so closely to ours is more an indictment of the American system than the Cuban system," Moore's Web site says.

In his piece, Gupta says Moore is wrong in asserting the US spends $7,000 per person on healthcare compared to Cuba spending $25 per person, putting the figure for the US at $6,096 per person and Cuba's spending at $229 per person. Moore links to a study from the Department of Health and Human Services that projected health spending for 2006 at $7,092 per capita and $7,498 for 2007.

"As for Cuba," Moore's site says, "Dr. Gupta and CNN need to watch 'SiCKO' first before commenting on it. 'SiCKO' says Cuba spends $251 per person on health care, not $25, as Gupta reports. And the BBC reports that Cuba's per capita health expenditure is… $251!"

And Gupta is wrong in asserting Americans live just slightly longer than Cubans, Moore says.

"Just the opposite," the Web site says. "The 2006 United Nations Human Development Report's human development index states the life expectancy in the United States is 77.5 years. It is 77.6 years in Cuba."

The CNN report also cites the fact that Americans have shorter wait times than everyone but Germans for non-emergency treatment like hip replacements or knee repairs. Moore says this "isn't the whole truth" and that for sick Adults waiting for a doctor's appointment, only Canadians have longer wait times.

In New Zealand, 81 percent of patients got a same- or next-day appointment for a non-routine visit. The comparable figures were 71 percent in Britain, 47 percent in the US and 36 percent in Canada, Moore says, citing a Business Week article.

Moore also refutes CNN's airing of a health care analyst explaining that citizens in other countries pay higher taxes to fund the more expansive healthcare programs. The movie "never claims that health care is provided absolutely for free in other countries, without tax contributions from citizens," Moore points out along with the fact that "half of all bankruptcies in the United States are triggered by medical bills," according to MSNBC.

The "truth squad" did not mention the conclusion Gupta reached in his report, that "there's one (fact) everyone agree's on: The system here should be far better."