Junk Journalism on Parade (updated 4apr20)

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.

Comments

[scenes]

GeorgeR: "In my book there’s a difference between journalists, reporters, and simply media hacks"

At this point, it's hacks all the way down. To be fair, I'd say the public is at fault via both poor habits and the vagaries of the design of the human brain. Clickbait is a thing and given an unending stream of single paragraph news stories written by children, the average person falls into and encourages the crapola to be written. It's like the notion of media is intertwined with a slot machine.

I'm always struck by how people used to be able to write, even your average Joe or Josephine. Just poke through a stack of vintage postcards and gaze in wonder at the vocabulary and style that people used to have. Maybe it's the modern lack of classical education (learned via a ruler), a lack of opportunity for quiet thinking, or fluoride in the water, I don't know.

(quick aside, the situation is more properly a White Swan. A predictable but unusual event).

[George Rebane]

scenes 1241pm - Agreed; of course the public is at fault. They've had their critical thinking skills purged through the last fifty years of unionized public education delivered by socialist educated teachers. Innumeracy is just the tip of their deficits iceberg. We know that the critically thinking public discriminates in the news/commentary they consume. That is one reason why FN's soaring audience numbers also contain Democrats whose luck is not all that bad when they attempt to think.

[Sini]

I don't think testing is keeping up with demand, so I'm not even sure the cases/million or deaths/million data is very meaningful. Even as late as middle of last week, I learned of a new positive test result in my community for which the test was performed on Mar 9. That's a two+ week backlog, meaning we really have no idea what is going on right now.

King County has a nice site tracking all the data (maybe too much emphasis on raw numbers), but again, without an understanding that test results are coming back within a day or two, it's hard to know what's happening out there today. This site says they are updating graphs as test results come in, so I guess I'll just keep an eye on it.
https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/communicable-diseases/disease-control/novel-coronavirus/data-dashboard.aspx

[George Rebane]

sini 235pm - Any of the published numbers are only "meaningful" to the extent that they are reliable. Here I not commenting on the reliability of the numbers, only on their display formatting given that they are reliable. But if we expand this discussion to reliability of published numbers, AND they are found to be arguably unreliable, then we need to take our leaders to task for continuing to daily cite those numbers as if they actually conveyed useful information.

[Bill Tozer]

Might be on topic

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Buck Sexton
@BuckSexton
·
Mar 27
The insistence of our liberal news media to undermine any good news the Trump administration puts out and wholeheartedly believe any piece of absurd propaganda China puts out-

is all you have to know about the character, seriousness, and intelligence of our news media
—————————-
Buck Sexton
@BuckSexton
·
Mar 26
I really miss the days when the national news cycle could revolve around who was dumb enough to believe an obvious hoax involving an actor who claimed men in MAGA hats attacked him while yelling “this is MAGA country!” at 2am on a freezing cold night in Chicago

https://twitter.com/BuckSexton/status/1243273641464410113?

[Bill T]

How to understand — and report — figures for ‘COVID deaths’

Nuance is crucial — not just in understanding the disease, but for understanding the burden it might place on health services in coming days.

https://spectator.us/understand-report-figures-covid-deaths/

[Bill Tozer]

Trump is killing people by withholding ventilators! It’s all Trump’s fault! Junk Jouralism.

Gov. Cuomo on Ventilators in NYC: They Are In Stockpile, We Don't Need Them Until The "Apex"

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/03/28/gov_cuomo_on_ventilators_in_nyc_they_are_in_stockpile_we_dont_need_them_until_the_apex.html

[Bill Tozer]

‘Media Reaction To Yamiche Alcindor Dustup With Trump Shows Why Their Approval Ratings Are Low’

Her peers rushed to defend her, but Alcindor has a track record of partisan commentary and unnecessarily hostile and silly questions.

https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/30/media-reaction-to-yamiche-alcindor-dustup-with-trump-shows-why-their-approval-ratings-are-low/

Related:
‘Trump Is Right: Suicides Do Increase During Economic Hardship’

The AP’s statement has no basis in reality. There is currently no body of research that demonstrates people are less likely to take their lives in time of economic hardship.

https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/30/trump-is-right-suicides-do-increase-during-economic-hardship/

[Bill Tozer]

Junk Journalism on Parade

MADDOW ON MARCH 20: ‘NONSENSE’ THAT HOSPITAL SHIP WILL BE IN NYC SOON
‘There’s no sign that they’ll be anywhere on-site helping out anywhere in the country for weeks yet’

https://news.grabien.com/story-maddow-march-20-nonsense-hospital-ship-will-be-nyc-soon
————
Meanwhile, from Buck Sexton’s bunker window during the Great Distancing:

Buck Sexton
@BuckSexton
·21h
Woke up this morning to see this sailing past my window

https://twitter.com/BuckSexton/status/1244638048958152704?
———————
Did you know that while The Botox Queen was passing out Impeachment Pens, Trump was forming the Wuhan Coronavirus task force? Most people don’t.

[Bill Tozer]

Media Ignore Coronavirus Death Rates to Attack Governors

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/john-gable/2020/03/31/media-ignores-coronavirus-death-rates-attack-governors

[Bill Tozer]

"YES, CALIF GOV. GAVIN NEWSOME IS NANCY PELOSI'S NEPHEW.
AND YES, ADAM SHIFF'S SISTER IS MARRIED TO GEORGE SOROS’ SON.
AND YES, JOHN KERRY'S DAUGHTER IS MARRIED TO A MULLAH'S SON In
IRAN................and Yes, Hillary's daughter Chelsea IS married to George Soros' nephew.
IF YOU HAD A HUNCH THE NEWS SYSTEM WAS SOMEWHAT RIGGED AND YOU
COULDN'T PUT YOUR FINGER ON IT, THIS MIGHT HELP YOU SOLVE THE PUZZLE.

ABC News executive producer Ian CAMERON is married to SUSAN RICE, Obama's former National Security Adviser.

CBS President DAVID RHODES is the brother of BEN RHODES, Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications.

ABC News correspondent CLAIRE SHIPMAN is married to former Obama White House Press Secretary JAY CARNEY.

ABC News and Univision reporter MATTHEW JAFFE is married to KATIE HOGAN, Obama's former Deputy Press Secretary .

ABC President BEN SHERWOOD is the brother of Obama's former Special Adviser Elizabeth Sherwood.

CNN President VIRGINIA MOSELEY is married to former Hillary Clinton's Deputy Secretary TOM NIDES .

Trump has been right all along. Fake News is generated by this incestuous relationship.

YA THINK THERE MIGHT BE A LITTLE BIAS IN THE NEWS?..
Now, do you still wonder why they hate Trump, he is the outsider!"

[Bill Tozer]

Junk Journalism on Parade

The New York Times Embarrasses Itself

'Paper of record' forced to correct same factual error twice in one week

https://freebeacon.com/media/new-york-times-correction-fail/?

[Bill Tozer]

DON’T BOGART THAT CHLOROQUINE, CONT’D

“With a little help from our friends we started writing about chrloroquine as a possible treatment for the Wuhan virus on March 15. We added discussions of hydroxychloroquine to the mix and kept at it until President Trump himself picked up the cause.

Well, that was enough for the media and a few governors to declare the thing a verboten outrage. Gregg Re takes a look back at the madness for FOX News in “After mocking Trump for promoting hydroxychloroquine, journalists acknowledge it might treat coronavirus.” Re scarfs up some of the quotes mocking Trump before they are relegated to the memory hole.

Re also adds a few salient details to the saga of Wanda, fish tank cleaner widow, fish tank clearer survivor, and hero of the MSM. The Washington Free Beacon tracked down a fair share of the rest of the story.”

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/04/dont-bogart-that-chloroquine-contd.php

[Bill Tozer]

A is worth a 1,000 words.

https://i2.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2020/04/Screen-Shot-2020-04-01-at-10.15.47-AM.png?w=996&ssl=1

[scenes]

Speaking of junk journalism, check out the #FilmYourHospital people on youtube and elsewhere.

I'm not denying that the epidemic is real, but they do make a good point that the MSM has juiced up some of the stories.

[George Rebane]

BillT 1031am - Good find Mr Tozer; posted.

[Bill Tozer]

Junk Journalism as repeated by the tin foil hats who post here and spew out the same on other sites, coast to coast.

CORONA CRAZY: THE 12 MOST INSULTING ATTACKS ON TRUMP OF THE WEEK

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/geoffrey-dickens/2020/04/03/reporters-rage-trump-has-blood-his-hands
————————
Closer to ‘not juiced up journalism’. VDH.

America Still a Global Leader Even in a Time of Crisis

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/04/02/america_still_a_global_leader_even_in_a_time_of_crisis_142833.html

[Walt]

Fascists disguised as claiming to be "free press".
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/04/04/exclusive-commissioner-brendan-carr-torches-dangerous-petition-to-weaponize-fcc-against-free-speech/
" Free Press urged the FCC to prominently disclose when broadcasters allegedly disclose information that is “false or scientifically suspect” and air disclosures prominently on television when broadcaster air allegedly false information."

And look who runs "free press".
"Free Press cofounder and board member Robert McChesney has advocated for a socialist revolution in the United States.

[Bill Tozer]

Old news?
From 4 days ago: China lied. It must have pained the former ever shrinking and disappearing Mini Mike and China’s biggest cheerleader to publish this:

‘China Concealed Extent of Virus Outbreak, U.S. Intelligence Says’

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-01/china-concealed-extent-of-virus-outbreak-u-s-intelligence-says
—————
‘China Rejects U.S. Intelligence Claim It Hid Virus Numbers’

‘https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-02/china-accuses-u-s-of-shifting-virus-blame-after-intel-report’

Hmmm. China claimed they were completely open about COVID-19. Now, why would China lie? Cause the Commies ALWAYS lie. They lie about rounding up millions of Christians and Muslims and putting them in camps, they always lie about stealing our intelligential property, they lie about manipulating there currency and GDP, they lie about everything decade in, decade out. That is what Authoritarian nations have in common, from North Korea to Cuba and in between.
———————————
Now comes the Junk Journalism:

“NY Times Front Page Actually Attacks Fox News for Blaming China for the Coronavirus”

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2020/04/03/ny-times-front-page-actually-attacks-fox-news-blaming-china

[Bill Tozer]

Dear Diary.

Sarah Silverman? Never head of her. Must be another D or C lister cracking at the seams. Don’t think she is going to make it through the month.

Headline: Sarah Silverman ‘Hates’ Trump Supporters! ‘Hatred Is What I Feel’ For ‘These People’

“As we near day 20 or so of coronavirus quarantine, the wailing and gnashing of liberal teeth on social media is reaching a fever pitch. Hollywood celebrities have reached new lows in their anger for the president and conservatives, with venom-filled entertainers like comedian Sarah Silverman fully admitting that they “hate” President Donald Trump and what she considers pro-Trump media.

The Trump-loathing comedian told the Twitterverse that she hates the president, his advisers — like Counselor to the President of United States Kellyanne Conway — and pro-Trump media -- like Fox News Host Sean Hannity. Considering she’s among the crowd that accuses Trump of peddling hate, she’s become the very thing she swore to destroy.

She wrote, “These people are responsible for thousands of deaths. People trust them. And they will never take responsibility. Watch them rewrite history in front of our eyes. I don’t think hatred is productive but it’s what I feel towards these people. Hatred. Ugh.””

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/culture/gabriel-hays/2020/04/04/sarah-silverman-hates-trump-supporters-hatred-what-i-feel

I do appreciate her candor. She would be the perfect guest appearance on a panel at CNN, MSNBC, or the View. Maybe even land a gig as a host following Samatha Bee? You go girl.

Somebody needs a hug. Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore.

[fish]

Well of course it's "Junk Journalism"!

World's earliest record of F-word discovered in 1568 manuscript...

What isn't Junk Journalism......?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8189047/Worlds-earliest-record-F-word-discovered-manuscript-written-bored-Scottish-student.html

[Bill Tozer]

Junk Journalism:

The Media Owe Senator Tom Cotton an Apology

“All those media outlets cited experts to declare that there was no evidence the virus was man-made or a bioweapon, which is a claim that Cotton never actually made. In almost every article, they cite Richard Ebright, a professor of chemical biology at Rutgers and one of the leading biosecurity experts in the world, to dismiss the possibility that the virus was a bioweapon. They do not address Cotton’s actual claim. That’s because Enright has repeatedly acknowledged, and recently reconfirmed, that it is a very real possibility that the COVID-19 spread began at the Wuhan lab. The very same expert they were using to “debunk” Cotton’s question and smear him as a conspiracy theorist actually agreed that it was legitimate. There are plenty of reasons to ask the question and demand transparency from China’s government given its dishonesty, the history of similar viruses escaping from Chinese labs, and the specific research focus of that particular lab.

Now the Washington Post has published another piece acknowledging that “scientists don’t rule out that an accident at a research laboratory in Wuhan might have spread a deadly bat virus that had been collected for scientific study.” In other words, they are now publishing the very claim that they insisted was a debunked conspiracy theory a month and a half ago. None of the previous articles attacking Cotton have been retracted.“

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-politics-media-owe-senator-tom-cotton-apology/?
———————————-
‘Washington Post Now Admits Maybe Tom Cotton Was Right To Suspect Coronavirus Outbreak Originated in Chinese Lab’

https://www.dailywire.com/news/washington-post-now-admits-maybe-tom-cotton-was-right-to-suspect-coronavirus-outbreak-originated-in-chinese-lab

[Bill Tozer]

My goodness. She looks like Octomom.

WATCH: CBS News Posts Fraudulent Video Of ICU Nurse Crying Over Poor Working Conditions

https://thefederalist.com/2020/04/06/cbs-news-posts-fraudulent-video-icu-nurse-crying-over-poor-working-conditions/

[Walt]

A certain news guy might want to get her number.
https://dailycaller.com/2020/04/06/trump-china-phoenix-tv-reporter-hong-kong/
"President Donald Trump pressed a reporter on Monday about whether she was working for the Chinese government after she asked a question about medical supplies that Beijing has provided the United States.

The reporter, who said she was with Phoenix TV, a Hong Kong-based outlet sympathetic to Beijing, began her question by noting that the Chinese government and companies like Huawei and Alibaba have donated medical supplies and equipment to the U.S. to handle coronavirus pandemic.

“Do you work for China, or are you with a newspaper? Who are you with?” he continued.

The reporter said that she works for Phoenix TV.

“Who owns that, China? Is it owned by China? Is it owned by the state?” "

[Walt]

Here you go Emery and Dougy,, a new Commie news source for you to get the latest info. No don't say I never did anything for ya'.
https://dailycaller.com/2020/04/07/phoenix-tv-ownership-china-coronavirus/

CCTV or CGTN (English and Chinese), the semiofficial Hong Kong–based
Phoenix TV, and a few Chinese provincial TV channels are available in add-on
packages of two major satellite TV providers in the United States, DISH Network
and DIRECTV. CCTV channels (English and Chinese) are in the cable systems of
all the major metropolitan areas of the United States.

So get it now for your DISH network. Reception should be great up on the ridge.