Looking Ahead

Shepard Smith, on his Fox News show, reported about a mix up at the University of Southern California in which a patient received the wrong kidney in a routine kidney transplant procedure. The mix-up led to a shut down of the hospital's kidney transplant program, and a review of its procedures for organ transplantation. Smith himself did not actually report on the story, but instead gave it over to a correspondent, named Trace Gallagher, who proceeded to explain the rest of the story. USC was briefly mentioned as the source of the story before Gallagher moved on to discuss the story further. Coverage was surprisingly even-handed of the story, choosing only to give facts with a minimal amount of bias involved, as far as Fox News standards go. The story was presented concisely at first, which was definitely a plus, as it allowed for viewers to build their own viewpoints as other facts were presented in the framework of the story. The story appeared to be single-event coverage, with a vague ending that USC would possibly resume operations at a later date.