There is an overwhelming case that the electronic media went out of their way to cover the noise and ignored the calmer (and from television's point of view "boring") encounters between elected representatives and their constituents.

Let's see. The media get paid to sell papers (grab eyeballs, whatever). Serious, considerate people having an intelligent discussion doesn't sell papers. Lunatics screaming and ranting sells LOTS of papers. So what will the media do, given a variety of possible stories about these town hall health care meetings? They'll pick the most outrageous, of course. As this editorial points out, they did the same thing during the Vietnam, but over-hyping the liberal protests. I can't figure out why this is a surprise. The fact that the media is reporting something does not mean it's accurate. Most likely, it's a small piece of a much larger picture.