President Obama speaks at town hall meeting

BELGRADE, Mont. (AP) - President Barack Obama is denouncing the news media's emphasis on scenes of angry protesters at town-hall meetings on health care.

He told an audience in Montana: "TV loves a ruckus."

He says TV doesn't show "the many constructive meetings going on all over the country."

At a town hall-style meeting in an airport hangar, Obama said Americans are being held hostage by health insurance companies that deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions or cancel coverage when people get sick.

The president kicked off a four-state push for his health-care overhaul plan with a joke. He said Montana has bears, moose and elk, and "in Washington, you just mostly have bull."