Associated Press Exposes How Organ Transplants are Rigged for the Rich

Actually‚ my headline is only tangentially related to what I’m going to write about.  But if you’ve read the tripe from the AP about how money influences the organ transplant game‚ you’re already familiar with the practice.  In three easy steps‚ the game of rigging news works thusly:

1. Game a headline to suggest something unseemly that would make the blood of the average reader boil.  In this case: “Jobs’ liver transplant shows power of wealth”
2. Use your opening paragraphs to pull a 180 away from your seedy‚ eye-catching headline (wouldn’t want the power of wealth’s attorneys knockin’ would we?) and state clearly that no one can “officially” game the system‚ setting up the reader for the dirty little secret about the relationship between money and undue influence you promised in said headline.
3. Drop your payload.  “Here’s where money comes in.”  If you’re rich‚ you can buy a home anywhere in the country‚ so when the hospital makes that life-saving call to you‚ you can be on the operating table within hours.

Fucking. Awesome. Journalism.

You could also rent a home‚ or an apartment.  Or stay with a friend or relative.  But that wouldn’t be seedy and poor people might also be able to do that.  That might drive people to other sources for their sensationalistic news fix‚ a category that the Associated Press is apparently now happy to populate.