NPR Helps Stations Find Lightning & Not Lightning Bug in Health Care Debate

Mark Twain once said the difference between the right word and the almost right word is like "the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."

NPR sent out a memo to stations to help them report the lightning when it comes to the number of people living in the US who do not have health insurance. NPR called the memo one of guidance.

The conservative Business & Media Institute reports:
"The NPR e-mail said, 'We are sticking with the 46 million number issued by the Census Bureau in September (for 2008). It’s the number of people in the U.S. who lack insurance coverage at any point during the prior 12 months. It includes citizens, legal residents and undocumented immigrants.'

“Better to say ’46 million uninsured in America,’ or ‘the nation’s 46 million uninsured people,’ or any other formulation that does not label all 46 million as citizens,” the e-mail continued."