UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Murder and Subway Trial Demonstrate Reporters’ Propensity to Prejudge and Typecast
12/6/24 – – Journalists feel it is their obligation when reporting on crises and other dramatic incidents to proclaim villains and victims. Even when facts are unclear and explanations evolving, reporters rush to identify good guys and bad guys, oppressed and oppressors. Two controversial stories currently in the news demonstrate the challenges for communicators created by this tendency.
Murder of a Health Insurance Executive Casts His Industry as Villains
Wednesday morning near the side entrance to the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered. On his way to an investor event in the hotel, he was gunned down at close range by a hooded assailant. With the gunman’s identity and motive still undetermined, media coverage is focusing on the issue of health insurance claim denials.
The premature narrative goes something like this: There is no justification for violence and we’re not sure why this happened. But, hey, consider how pissed off insurance companies have made patients and family members who’ve had treatments delayed or denied even when doctors say it’s a matter of life or death.
Yesterday The New York Times reported:
UnitedHealthcare has battled a range of complaints and investigations from patients, doctors and lawmakers for its denial of medical claims . . . Those practices may face new scrutiny after law enforcement officials said that the bullet casings found at the site of the killing of the UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson on Wednesday appeared to have messages, including the words “deny” and “delay” written on them.
One comment posted on CNN.com regarding a surveillance camera video of the shooting read:
“Thoughts and deductibles to the family. Unfortunately my condolences are out-of-network.”
A tsunami of coverage is blowing by the shooter and the CEO, suggesting that the villains we should be worried about are health insurers, typecast as greedy and uncaring. The victims are the millions of people who have been denied care.
This speculative reporting has triggered a reputational crisis not just for UnitedHealthcare but the entire health insurance industry. This is not a new issue, but now insurers have the difficult task of addressing these allegations within the prejudicial context of Wednesday’s murder – however things plays out.
Media Not Waiting for Jury to Determine Guilt or Innocence in Subway Case
Downtown from the Hilton Hotel, a jury is deciding the fate of Daniel Penny. He is charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide resulting from an altercation he had with Jordan Neely, a troubled homeless man Penny believed threatened his and other passengers’ lives in a New York subway car last year.
This controversial case, as much as any in recent memory, demonstrates the media’s inability to stay neutral.
Coverage on the right has portrayed Penny as a Good Samaritan who heroically stepped in to save himself and his fellow passengers from the dangerous, deranged Neely. It’s Penny who is the victim of a politicized New York justice system.
Coverage on the left describes Neely, who is Black, as a disturbed but harmless Michael Jackson imitator murdered by the racist vigilante Penny, who is White.
This headline on an Associated Press article published Wednesday was far from neutral:
Father of Victim in NYC Subway Chokehold Case Sues Defendant Daniel Perry
Is it fair while the jury is still deliberating to affirm that Neely was the “victim” that day and call this a “chokehold” case (Penny says he used a headlock not to choke but restrain Neely until police arrived)?
Conversely, how different would the impact of the headline be if it went in the other direction, describing the case as a test of “self-defense” and characterizing Penny as a “Good Samaritan” (New York’s subway system is experiencing a dramatic increase in crime and breakdown in police protection)?
Communicators Must Gameplan for Media Bias and Impatience
Heightened scrutiny regarding health insurance company denial rates may be justified. And the jury may render a guilty verdict in the subway altercation case. Regardless of the outcomes, the lesson for corporations and crisis counselors is clear: Be prepared to respond to the news media’s propensity to rush to judgement, typecast and prematurely proclaim victims and villains.
Journalists and news organizations are not going to change. That’s why being able to tell your story with clarity, credibility and conviction throughout a crisis is so important to staying out of the “villain” category and successfully navigating a reputational storm.
P.S. There’s lots more on this in my book, “The Crisis Preparedness Quotient,” a click away on Amazon.com.
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