Culture: November 2003 Archives

Nat Hentoff, civil libertarian and columnist for the Village Voice, is weighing in on media coverage of Terri Schindler-Schiavo. He has pronounced the media guilty of "journalistic malpractice", mischaracterizing her condition and uncritically siding with her husband, who wishes her dead. And he says that the support for her cause from disabled-rights groups has gone unreported in the mainstream media:

For 13 years, Terri Schiavo has not been able to speak for herself. But she is not brain-dead, not in a comatose state, not terminal, and not connected to a respirator. If the feeding tube is removed, she will starve to death. Whatever she may or may not have said, did she consider food and water "artificial means?"