>> CNN/Fox/MSNBC
One of those is not like the other two.
CNN and MSNBC may not be as high quality as WaPo/NYTimes in terms of depth and quality of journalism, but they also don't maliciously and cynically and shamelessly lie to their viewers.
One of those is not like the other two.
CNN and MSNBC may not be as high quality as WaPo/NYTimes in terms of depth and quality of journalism, but they also don't maliciously and cynically and shamelessly lie to their viewers.
People don't get my attitude. "How can you even tell the difference?" they say. "It's pretty much the same!"
This is because when your favorite soda is Mountain Dew, you can barely tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi. They're both a heck of a lot different from Mtn Dew, and there's only the tiniest difference between Pepsi and Coke when you contrast with Fanta, Mtn Dew, Sprite, 7Up, etc.
(I'm not making this up merely as an argument - the above is my reality, and yes, people do say that to me).
When you get accustomed to good quality journalism (which WaPo isn't), the differences between CNN and Fox are miniscule. When you consider all the news topics out there, and all the diverse perspectives on them out there, you'll see that CNN and Fox more or less cover the same tiny fraction of topics. Sure, if your world consists of only that tiny fraction, then the differences between CNN and Fox seem stark.
I think a more concise way to put it is: If you assign 100% to the universal set of topics/opinions, then perhaps Fox is at 2% and CNN at 3%. Sure, CNN is 50% better than Fox, but from a whole picture standpoint it's really only a 1% delta between the two.
I don't have time to compile the numerous examples of CNN maliciously, cynically, and shamelessly to their users, so I'll just post my favorite example:
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/787749117502119936?lang...
Chris Cuomo looking into the camera, and telling America it is illegal for them to go to wikileaks. But it's ok, the media is exempted from that and they'll make sure to tell you ALL of the important information you need to know.
Sorry, but give me a break. Not only do they lie, they try to scare you into not informing yourself.
They're just different teams playing the same game.
Fans always defend their team and vilify the other. Always. With every dispute they're able to convince themselves it's the other side that are the cheaters. They can't both be right, but yet each side feels equally certain of their position.
But that also doesn't mean, as you and so many imply with these kind of statements, that both sides are wrong. It can be the case that one side is, in fact, correct, or less at fault than the other.
It's a fallacy that in a dispute both sides are always equally wrong, or that the answer is always exactly in the middle.
Certainly in any specific dispute one may be correct. Or both partially correct. Or both wrong. And one may be better or worse than the other in sum.
There are always bad apples, but you just need to look at how they are treated (e.g. whether they are rewarded or punished).
Why not demand better on all fronts? None of the aforementioned media are doing grade A work.
https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1243539189020401664?s...
Literally everyone was saying it's not as bad as the Flu. I don't see why we're playing the blame game in the peak of things.
I could definitely tell you WHO (China) is to blame, but now isn't the time.
Also:
https://twitter.com/LizRNC/status/1245478539018805251?s=20
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/01/31/how-our-br...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/18/world/europe/coronavirus-...
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/03/the-flu-has-already-killed-1...
https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1225937322694381568
https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/122367623706063667...
https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/124526211463933952...
[1]: https://mmbiz.qpic.cn/mmbiz_jpg/jvumSxUR3OrjfcgXFibaich6y6Z6...
The Chinese government was informed and chose to cover it up.
https://www.axios.com/timeline-the-early-days-of-chinas-coro...
https://nypost.com/2020/02/29/china-officials-knew-of-corona...
https://www.vox.com/2020/2/10/21124881/coronavirus-outbreak-...
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/08/8037667...
1. Dec. 30 - Doctors from the first few cases have analyzed the samples and discover how similar the new virus is to SARS. Officials tell them not to spread information to the public about the virus.
2. Dec. 31 - China tells WHO about new virus (not that they know much at this point)
3. Jan. 1 - Provincial health committee orders provincial labs to destroy samples, samples are transported to larger state facility to do testing there. The reason for this is due to the samples being considered "highly pathogenic microorganisms", and that only approved facilities should test it. (I'm guessing due to the risk of acting on the sample and contracting it?)
4. Jan. 2nd - State approved facilities map the genetic sequence but an official national statement doesn't get made until a week later, Jan. 9th.
[1]: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/14/health/coronavirus-asymptomat...
> Jan. 11–17: Important prescheduled CCP meeting held in Wuhan. During that time, the Wuhan Health Commission insists there are no new cases.
> Jan. 14: WHO announces Chinese authorities have seen "no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus."
> Jan. 20: The first case announced in South Korea. Zhong Nanshan, a top Chinese doctor who is helping to coordinate the coronavirus response, announces the virus can be passed between people.
> Jan. 23: Wuhan and three other cities are put on lockdown. Right around this time, approximately 5 million people leave the city without being screened for the illness.
> Jan. 24–30: China celebrates the Lunar New Year holiday. Hundreds of millions of people are in transit around the country as they visit relatives.
Dr. Birx confirmed that they misled the experts:
https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1245138898772045824?...
> I think the medical community interpreted the Chinese data as that this was serious but smaller than anyone expected,
> Because I think probably we were missing a significant amount of the data.
Jan 18: Wuhan hosts a holiday banquet for 40,000 attendees, despite reports of a contagious viral pneumonia.
We've seen similar things in so many countries - people don't understand how bad it is until lots of people start dying. China put 21 million people on lock-down when there were only 619 confirmed cases - compare that to elsewhere.
If you want to argue really hard, then January 23 when the Wuhan quarantine was announced is the last possible date that a country could argue that China was covering up the extent. At that date countries like Australia started screening passengers (and by 31 Jan had announced isolation requirements for travellers from China).
(I'm also an outsider.)