George Rebane
Ignorant, cynical, agenda-driven (you pick) media scribes and talking heads are doing a real disservice to the American public. Their latest is the reporting of misconstrued pandemic data in ways designed to make the US look like an incompetent laggard in the fight against the virus. Playing to an innumerate audience, these ‘journalists’ are citing cherry picked raw numbers of everything from total cases, deaths, ventilators, tests, masks, you name it in a way that is totally meaningless. No one in the audience has any way of understanding the significance of the reported numbers, and more so when these are compared to similar numbers from other countries.
Here’s an example of what I’m trying to convey. The yellow journalists report the yellow data, and the required information (i.e. data formatted to support decisions) that allows the audience to make meaningful comparisons is in green. There would be a lot less for the lamestream and progressives to hyperventilate about if comparable per capita rates were reported for morbidity, mortality, materiel shortages/supplies, etc. From this morning’s Covid19 count we have –
And here is another major contribution of today’s fake news – ‘The Lost Month: How a Failure to Test Blinded the US to Covid-19’ – from the fallen NYT that blames the Trump administration for 1) the failures of long dysfunctional federal bureaucracies, 2) not anticipating a black swan, and 3) for not doing something (comprehensive widespread testing) that was impossible, unwarranted at the time, and would not have provided the called-out information. Their main message, “Aggressive screening might have helped contain the coronavirus in the United States. But technical flaws, regulatory hurdles, and lapse in leadership let it spread undetected for weeks.” Six ‘journalists’ participated in this misleading hit job. Such crap from progressive politicians with terminal TDS are understandable, like the one from Pelosi (here). It remains clear why this vaunted ‘gray lady’ continues to be the darling of progressives.
Here’s how to look at aspects of different countries’ healthcare systems – this one from the OECD on what share of out-of-pocket household income people spend on prescription drugs. Such a presentation allows a more accurate comparison of consumer costs experienced under different healthcare systems and provides a new perspective on the big ‘greedy’ pharma.
In my book there’s a difference between journalists, reporters, and simply media hacks. Journalists used to hew to a code of ethics about research and reporting – today that practice ranges between rare and long gone. Reporters are anybody off the street or from another department told to go out for a look-see and type up what they thought they ran into in time for a publishing deadline – these are the learn-while-you-earn types. A bunch of those still exist. But today it is the media hacks who fill the overwhelming number of print and broadcast slots. These are people with good hair and teeth whose job is to shape the news into specified formats that promote the message of the outlet’s political and ideological masters.
[4apr20 update] H/T to reader.
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