The Island of Doubt

So Michael Moore the documentarian takes on CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta the medical science guy in the former's first appearance on the network in three years, arguing that the latter committed libel by claiming the filmmaker "fudged the facts" in the new documentary Sicko. The two argued vociferously on Wolf Blitzer's "The Sitation Room" the other day. Who won? This being television news, no one, really. Moore came off as an obnoxious and impatient guest and Gupta as an inexcusably sloppy journalist. But Wolf was the real loser for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is failing get to the heart of the debate, at which lies competing sources.

The interview took place immediately following a "reality check" of Sicko by Gupta, who says he founds numerous factual errors in Moore's expose of the sad state of the American health care system. Moore, not too surprisingly, took offense and challenged Gupta on the facts. Moore later posted a rebuttal, with sources, on his own website that quite clearly showed he was not fudging the facts. And yet Gupta, with one exception, did not back down. How could this happen?

Because Moore got his numbers from one source (the U.S. government) and Gupta from another (the WHO). Both can claim to be valid sources. But Gupta, despite his credibility as a physician, clearly failed to live up to his responsibilities as a journalist. By claiming Moore's facts are wrong without bothering to verify or confirm Moore's sources (and Moore makes a point of making those sources available on his website), and then presenting his own competing facts, he does a disservice to Moore and his viewers.

For example, Moore in Sicko says the U.S. spends an average of $7,000 a year health care for each American. Gupta claims the number is closer to $6,000. Turns out Moore's number is good. It comes from the Bush administration, no less. But like all the cases of alleged fudging, Gupta doesn't bother with the issue of sources.

He should know better. If you're going to play "gotcha" with Michael Moore, you'd better know what you're doing, To challenge Moore on the facts is to invite an argument. How could he go to air with such allegations without checking first? The facts both are drawing on are actually statistics, numbers that stand in for real measurements. And how a stat is derived can be a tricky business. I'm sure the statisticians in both the U.S. Department of Health and the World Health Organization can make a good case for their figures. Gupta knows this, and to say that Moore is wrong is simply not an accurate or fair allegation.

It gets worse, though. Gupta claimed in his piece that Moore puts the annual per capita health care cost in Cuba at $25, when the actual number is $251. But in Sicko the number used turns out to be $251. Gupta put it down to a transcription error. Still standing is the absurd difference in spending between the U.S. and Cuba and the unchallenged fact that Cubans enjoy lifespans and many other health indicators that compare favorably with those of Americans.

Gupta criticized Moore in the item for playing up the US's ranking on a world health care survey of 37, but ignoring the fact that Cuba is 39. And yet the only reason CNN viewers don't see the quite visible Cuban ranking in the clip from Sicko is that the CNN logo was covering it up. No explanation, or apology, from Gupta.

All the other alleged examples of Moore's errors turn out be competing credible sources or matters of fair statistical interpretation. It's Fahrenheit 9/11 all over again. And it's a point that Moore made, asking Blitzer to apologize for treating him so poorly back in 2004 now that so much of Moore's point of view has being adopted by so much of the American mainstream, including the media and increasing numbers of Republicans.

Moore, who for the first time I'm aware of actually claims to be committing journalism, would do himself a big favor by not playing the goofy, unkempt, pool-hall hustler when he takes to the public stage. But when are CNN et al going to understand that Moore does a better job sourcing his facts than many so-called professional journalists? And when are they going to learn the difference between competing statistics and simple fact vs. fiction?

To no one's surprise, a rematch on Larry King got no closer to the problem. The one saving grace: Gupta admitted Moore's essential thesis is correct. The health care system in the U.S. is broken. For some reason, that never made it into his "reality check," though.