KCFW to air special health-care series

Bonten Media Group's five markets are uniting this month for a groundbreaking company-wide project: an in-depth look at the Affordable Care Act.

The special reports, titled “The Facts: Health Care in America,” will air next week on all Bonten stations.

"There is no topic affecting Americans more right now than health care," said Randall Bongarten, CEO of Bonten Media Group. "We believe it is our responsibility to go beyond the politics and provide factual information so that our viewers can make their own judgments on this critical issue. Bonten Media Group is dedicating significant company resources to cover the facts about this controversial topic."

As Bonten stations are all in small markets with limited resources and no special projects teams, a unique solution was needed to cover such a multi-faceted topic. Bonten decided to divide and conquer, assigning each station’s news team a particular aspect of the issue.

The resulting five-part series of reports will air the same week in local newscasts in every market.

Monday’s report is from George Levesque of KTXS in Abilene, Texas, covering “The History of Health Care in America.” On Tuesday, Wes Goforth of WCTI in New Bern, N.C., will present “The Affordable Care Act: The Basic Facts.”

Rebecca Pepin of WCYB in Tri-Cities, Tenn., will bring Wednesday’s report on “The Affordable Care Act: Effects on Local Business.” On Thursday, Heidi Meili of KECI/KTVM in Missoula, Butte, Bozeman, will cover questions surrounding “Quality of Care.”

On Friday, Mike Mangas of KRCR in Chico-Redding, Calif., will be “Comparing Canada vs. U.S. Health Care Systems.”

"The dedication and journalistic talents of our news teams shine through in this series of reports," Bongarten said. "I am proud of their efforts and believe strongly that this is the kind of contribution local television stations can and should make to their local communities."

Bonten Media Group owns and operates 35 network-affiliated full-power, low-power and digital multicast television stations in eight markets. Locally, that includes KECI/KCFW.