The major media outlets have not exactly been “fair and balanced,” to coin a phrase, about the whole Schiavo affair. One of the most significant ways this is true lies in the endlessly repeated showing of the infamous tape of Terri–the one shot by family, which was then edited down to give the intentional false impression that Terri was aware of her surroundings and responding to stimulus. Perhaps this can be explained by the fact that the whole, unedited version may not be available, and that a court order has prevented any further footage to be released, and since the media is hungry for any images, it uses what is out there. Nevertheless, it is biased, it is presented without disclaimer, and whatever the reason for airing, it perpetrates a stark falsehood about the case.

But the video is not all that betrays the media bias. CNN and other networks have been airing interviews with Carla Sauer Iyer, a nurse who is making, to say the least, fantastic claims about Terri Schiavo. What the networks leave out is the fact that Iyer was considered by the court to be severely lacking in credibility. According to Iyer, Terri was speaking, communicating ideas, swallowing and taking nutrition orally, and that with “just a little bit of therapy” Terri could be walking around. However, also according to Iyer, Michael Schiavo was a ruthless, frightening man bent on killing his wife: he constantly asked when “that bitch” would die and claimed she was costing him a fortune; that he stole charts Iyer wrote on which showed Terri was making progress; that he repeatedly stopped any therapy, and even injected her with insulin to make her sick; that he was so fierce and threatening, that the entire medical facility was terrified of him, and bowed to his every whim. And that when she notified the police of this, she was immediately terminated.

What CNN and the other news shows that presented her as a credible witness failed to mention was that Iyer was considered an extremely unconvincing witness by the courts, which pointed out that Iyer’s story required a grand conspiracy between medical staff, doctors, the police and even the Schindlers, Terri’s parents. Her testimony starkly contradicts Terri’s medical records, of what is possible for a patient lacking a cerebral cortex.

It also begs the question of why all the others who would have to have been aware of all this have not come forward. Certainly they cannot fear the hellish wrath of Michael Schiavo now? The fact of the matter is that Iyer’s testimony is simple too far removed from reality to be believable. It would require that Michael Schiavo, by threat of lawsuit alone (suing on what grounds?) convinced an entire medical facility and staff of doctors to falsify years of medical reports, and to top it all off, the Schindlers would have had to be in on it as well. Her actual motives in this are a mystery (expecting to sell the story to a movie studio? Or perhaps she’s a right-to-lifer, or has been co-opted by them?), but to believe the story is asking far too much. Unless it happens to jibe with your worldview and you’re willing to gloss over the stark impossibilities involved–which many are able to do in this case.

Fortunately, the public in general seems not to be fooled by any of this. The polls seem to indicate that a very sizable majority is on Michael Schiavo’s side on the matter. CNN’s poll shows approval of the court’s decision to remove the feeding tube leading disapproval almost by a factor of two, 56% to 31%. Among Republicans, a 54% majority approved of the court decision. (Though CNN managed to skew the charts to make approval seem overwhelmingly from Democrats.)

An ABC poll showed an even greater majority, 63%, approved of removing Terri’s feeding tube, and that 70% felt that intervention by the government was inappropriate, almost as many saying that politics, not concern for Terri’s life, was the motive behind the sudden legislation. Furthermore, the poll revealed that while opposition to removing the feeding tube and especially support for political action were lukewarm, support for removing the feeding tube and opposition to political action were both very strong. And while the media has been repeating that Terri was a Catholic, and Catholics are against taking away feeding tubes in such cases, the poll revealed that 63% of Catholics approved of removing Terri’s feeding tube.

As with reproductive rights and gun control, a sizable majority approves of this issue–but as with reproductive rights and gun control, the highly vocal, extremist minority of fundamental “right-to-life” advocates are hijacking the media spotlight and getting the Republicans in government to do whatever they want them to do on this issue.