This topic has come up in my conversations with people on political topics in the past and I think it is incredibly important in the upcoming media coverage of the "Health Care debate" to be sure to screen your source. Please feel free to use these same tactics anytime you find yourself faces with a "news story" or (gawd forbid) a PAC ad...
If a "professional in the medical field", a politician, or a pundit makes a comment regarding proposed changes to health care that seem shocking: 1) reflect on what you just heard, 2) grab paper and pen and write down the quote that struck a nerve, 3) reread the quote and scrutinize the viability of the statement in its own right, 4) get online and research the person that made the statement.
Good sites to check out a person or topic: Media Matters, FactCheck.org, and (yes) Wikipedia. Or for funzies, just google them and keep track of the type of websites that quote that individual. Or google the "think tank" or "patients rights advocate" or the "grassroots organization" they represent. You deserve the broader picture and sadly, in modern media we have been left to do our own research. Don't allow yourself to be spoonfed "facts".
