Monday, March 26, 2012

PBS Newshour to cover the Supreme Court hearings on "Affordable Care Act"


PBS NEWSHOUR is set to cover three days of Supreme Court hearings on health care reform law with extensive package of online and on-air reporting and analysis. PBS NEWSHOUR is shown on WSBE Learn weeknights at 7 P.M. (digital 36.2, Cox 808, Verizon 478, Full Channel 109, Comcast 294 or 312).

Starting Monday, March 26, the Supreme Court will begin three days of hearings on the "Affordable Care Act," and the PBS NEWSHOUR’s health, politics and legal reporting teams will cover every aspect of the landmark case.

Throughout the week’s hearings, the National Law Journal’s Marcia Coyle and Health Affairs editor Susan Dentzer will appear on the NEWSHOUR each night to provide informed analysis of each day’s hearing. Dentzer and Coyle provided a detailed preview of the hearing on Thursday’s NEWSHOUR broadcast.

Along with the nightly look at the hearing, the PBS NEWSHOUR will have a daily primer on the case available on the NEWSHOUR website each morning, including Q and A’s with Coyle.

Coverage of the hearing will also be rounded up daily in the NEWSHOUR's political newsletter, the Morning Line. Subscribe here.

Additional elements of the PBS NEWSHOUR’s coverage of the three-day SCOTUS health care law hearings are listed below:

MONDAY
· PBS NEWSHOUR Health Correspondent Betty Ann Bowser will examine the election season political efforts by both sides of the health care debate leading up to the hearing.
· Photos and quotes from demonstrators who protested against the health care reform law on Capitol Hill on the PBS NEWSHOUR website

TUESDAY
· Legal experts debate the constitutionality of the health care reform law on the evening broadcast of the NEWSHOUR.
· The NEWSHOUR’s political unit looks at what the candidates are saying about the health care law on the campaign trail; and how the issue has been a politically difficult one for Mitt Romney.
· Online updates from PBS NEWSHOUR Health Correspondent Betty Ann Bowser on the scene outside the court.
· Online photos and interviews with some of the protestors who demonstrated in favor of the health care reform law on Capitol Hill.
· A Twitter chat on health care reform law with Neera Tanden from Center for American Progress, Joseph Antos from the American Enterprise Institute and Mary Agnes Carey from Kaiser Health News—the hashtag is #HCRchat.
· Online analysis from Susan Dentzer of what could happen to the rest of the health care reform provisions if the individual mandate is struck down.

WEDNESDAY
· Political debate on the NEWSHOUR of the arguments in the case, participants TBD.


Please note that this schedule is tentative, and could be subject to change. Transcripts and video excerpts from each day’s coverage may become available before the evening broadcast of the PBS NEWSHOUR.