New estimates from the CDC yesterday report that life expectancy in the U.S. has hit another all-time high, up to approximately 78 years and two months. In addition, about 36,000 fewer people died in 2009 compared to 2008, and the infant mortality rate hit a record low of 6.42 deaths per 1,000 live births. This translates to a 3 percent decrease from the year before.
Predictably, The New York Times barely made note of the news except in an Economix piece published in the Business Day section. “If there is any bad news about health or health care, you’ll be sure to find it prominently featured in the paper, but the good news is always hidden in some small alcove of The Times," says ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross. “The same goes for cancer rates: they are actually decreasing, but the story was buried. If the reverse were true, that cancer rates were increasing, you know it would be splattered across the front page”
“Apparently, good news is no news,” quips ACSH’s Dr. Josh Bloom. “At The Times, it’s ‘All the news that fits (our agenda) — we print.’”