Coronavirus: Thread

grarpamp grarpamp at gmail.com
Mon Mar 29 01:44:30 PDT 2021


Corona history may not prove kind to Fake News...


https://starkrealities.substack.com/p/study-us-medias-covid-coverage-slants
https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.dartmouth.edu/dist/4/2318/files/2021/03/Why-Is-All-Covid-News-Bad-News-3_22_21.pdf

Dartmouth-Brown Study Documents Media's Stoking "Vicious Circle Of
Fear" On COVID

Authored by Brian McGlinchey via Stark Realities,

If you’ve felt the media has heavily emphasized bad news throughout
the Covid-19 pandemic, your judgment now has some scholarly
corroboration. Dartmouth College and Brown University researchers have
analyzed tens of thousands of Covid-19 articles and found major US
media outlets have overwhelmingly pushed negative narratives about the
virus.

"The most striking fact is that 87 percent of the U.S. stories are
classified as negative, whereas 51 percent of the non-US stories are
classified as negative," according to the study by Dartmouth economics
professor Bruce Sacerdote, Dartmouth’s Ranjan Sehgal and Brown
University’s Molly Cook.

Thwarting Public Clarity About Covid-19

Though the study doesn’t delve deep into the societal implications,
there’s little doubt excessive media negativity has contributed to
public misunderstanding of the nature of the disease and the actual
risk it poses to various segments of society.

Consider one of study’s most glaring findings: Even when Covid-19
cases were falling nationally between April 24 and June 27, major
media discussed rising caseloads 5.3 times as frequently as falling
ones.

The impact was evident: A June CBS News poll found a record number of
Americans felt the fight against coronavirus was going badly. Of
course, news of the poll was itself another negative story, feeding a
media-facilitated vicious circle of fear.

In July, a Franklin Templeton-Gallup poll found Americans had a poor
understanding of the risk of Covid-19 death for different age cohorts:

    Participants said people aged 55+ accounted for a little over half
of the deaths, when the actual share was 92%.

    Those under age 25 accounted for just 0.2% of deaths—participants
overestimated the share by a factor of 50.

The results aren’t surprising, given the media’s compulsion to report
rare occasions when teens and twentysomethings do fall victim to the
virus.

In June, CNN served up a particularly flagrant example of Covid
scaremongering: an article titled Healthy teenager who took
precautions died suddenly of Covid-19.

The many who skimmed the headline received an anecdotal infusion of
fearful misinformation. The minority who made it to the tenth
paragraph would finally learn that doctors treating the purportedly
"healthy" yet visibly obese teen found he had Type 1 diabetes with a
blood sugar level 10 times the norm.

Two months earlier, the Centers for Disease Control announced that
about 90% of those hospitalized with the virus had one or more
underlying conditions. Among the most common were obesity (48%) and
diabetes (28%). Rather than using this teen’s grim story to enlighten
the public about who is at greatest risk, CNN aggressively pushed a
perception that nobody is safe.

The media’s failure to foster understanding of Covid-19 also seems
evident in the many people still seen today wearing masks while alone
outdoors. According to Dr. Muge Cevik, an infectious diseases and
virology scientist at the University of St Andrews, "outdoor risk is
negligible unless it involves close interaction or you are in a
crowded or semi-outdoor environment."
Perceptions of the Virus Influence Policy Opinions

Overly-negative Covid-19 reporting has implications well beyond
individual feelings and practices: Those who’ve been led to an
exaggerated perception of their personal risk are more prone to
supporting strict government policies to counter the virus.

A Pew Research poll released earlier this month confirms that
individuals’ perception of the pandemic heavily influences their
opinions about various government interventions.

For example, Pew asked if limiting restaurants to carry-out service
has been necessary to counter the virus. Among those who think
Covid-19 represents a minor threat to the U.S. population, 21% agreed.
Support soars to 66% among those who deem the virus a major threat.

Many are likely opining from a position of ignorance: How many know
that a New York contact tracing study attributed less than 2% of
Covid-19 case transmission to bars and restaurants? (Unfortunately, I
couldn’t find any polls that test Americans’ understanding of the
virus other than the earlier-referenced Franklin Templeton-Gallup
poll.)
Negative About Positives

The Dartmouth and Brown researchers found "the negativity of the U.S.
major media is notable even in areas with positive developments,
including school re-openings and vaccine trials."

When schools reopen to in-person teaching—a move validated by the
experience of European schools—U.S. media has been quick on the scene
with a wet blanket: The study found 86% of US mainstream media
articles about school reopenings are negative.

The easing of government restrictions reliably attracts negative
media. Iowa governor Kim Reynolds’s lifting of the state’s mask
mandate in early February sparked a wave of negative reporting and
opinion pieces, and the Washington Post actually ran a piece titled
"Welcome to Iowa: a state that doesn’t care if you live or die."

In September, similar derision was heaped on Florida governor Ron
DeSantis when he lifted major statewide restrictions. However, when
neither Florida nor Iowa experienced negative consequences, there was
little media reporting of the good news that government restrictions
and mandates may not be so necessary after all.

We see a similar pattern with the media’s never-ending cycle of
warning that various holidays and special events will bring a surge in
contagion. From Thanksgiving to Christmas to the Super Bowl and spring
break, we’re constantly presented headlines stoking fears these
occasions will cause major virus spikes.

When predicted surges don’t happen, the media gives little attention
to the happy news that their alarms proved false. Instead, they’re
apparently hard at work drafting warnings about whatever’s next on the
calendar.

It’s as if mainstream journalists feel duty-bound to stoke Covid-19
fear, while paternalistically shielding us from welcome facts that
could lead us to "let our guard down." In doing so, they negligently
disregard the collateral harm they do to mental health and our quality
of life.
Hope for Greater Media Balance?

The Dartmouth-Brown study on U.S. media negativity prompted The New
York Times’ David Leonhardt to call for introspection: "If we’re
constantly telling a negative story, we are not giving our audience
the most accurate portrait of reality. We are shading it."

That’s a welcome acknowledgment: Until recently, Leonhardt’s own Times
email newsletter has mirrored the negative slant found across U.S.
media.

There are hints of a growing balance. For example, in recent weeks,
major outlets have finally started acknowledging that Florida’s
post-reopening experience conflicts with the media-reinforced notion
that shutdowns are an essential counter-virus strategy.

Concluding his review of the study, Leonhardt expressed gratitude to
researchers Sacerdote, Cook and Sehgal for "holding up a mirror to our
work and giving us a chance to do better." Let’s hope his sentiment
proves highly contagious.


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