This kind of geographically-biased reporting is truly awful. Oklahoma is the lead in the story - a “state without stay-at-home order.” Oklahoma still has one of the lowest cases per capita number, at just 602. That puts it at 38th. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/ … 1/ https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1251184130852884481 …
Not even in a national crisis can the liberal media act like they give a damn about other people than themselves and their Democratic allies on the Hill. The Wuhan coronavirus originated in China. It’s China’s fault that this became a pandemic. And now, because of Chinese incompetence, over 36,000 Americans are dead from it. Over 750,000 have been infected. And while new testing capabilities have been deployed, therapeutics are undergoing clinical trials, and the nation virtually undergoing a lockdown, the media blames Trump. The president is a victim of another shoddy narrative that he knew about the virus and dithered in his response. The whole month of February was a fact-finding period. And with less than 200 cases at the time, does anyone think the media would have supported the social distancing measures we’re experiencing now if enacted since everyone is playing Monday morning quarterback? No. They would have complained as well. They complained when Trump shut down incoming travel from China in late January, around the same time that he assembled the task force that’s seen giving updates daily to these ungrateful media clowns.
There’s also a new knock on Trump: he’s too positive. Right, because panic breeds more panic and that’s good for the markets and the country, right? Of course, they do this because they want Trump to fail. Former CNN producer Steve Krakauer noted the media’s doom and gloom fetish and geographic bias in their reporting as of late. Once again, HBO’s Bill Maher slammed the media for being persistent Debbie downers, which once again, allows Trump to rake in their in-kind contributions. Maher specifically cited The New York Times for his bit slamming “panic porn.” Krakauer added that this emphasis on the negative is a Trump-era development within the anti-Trump opposition media, to no one’s surprise:
Maher focused on this New York Times' headline: "'It's Terrifying' Millions More Out of Work." "Who are they quoting? Trump? Fauci? Stephen King? No, they're quoting an event planner in North Hollywood." said Maher. "Why are you in my headline? How about this, just tell me millions are out of work without the flashlight under the chin, and I'll decide how I feel about it."
This critique is true across the media - this need to overemphasis the negativity, which is surely a creation of the Trump Era.
American are stepping up. They are helping their fellow citizens in incredible ways - all while making serious changes to their lives that have impressed even the health experts like Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci (The Financial Times has a great piece about this).
Our media coverage is best when it tells us what's happening - and maybe letting in some optimism during the crisis.
Hope is now a dirty word, Krakauer noted, but not nearly as bad as the geographic bias displayed on CNN. Again, no shocker there. With New York City, the greater tri-state area, the Left Coast, the DMV area, and parts of New England totally infested with the Wuhan coronavirus, it’s time to deflect blame to the red states in order to protect liberal elitism and the Democratic politicians that reside in these areas. One particular piece aimed to blame rural states for being slow in their state-at-home orders despite there being vastly fewer cases than in blue states. While the models are all over the place, one thing is clear. There are more Wuhan infections in Rhode Island than in Oklahoma. The point is that there are no rural hotspots occurring. As Krakauer wrote, “Rhode Island has four times fewer residents than Oklahoma but is expected to have more coronavirus related deaths. But Rhode Island is a blue state, with a popular Democratic governor. The media coverage of Oklahoma, South Dakota and other states features a geographic bias belied by actual data.”