COVID-19 should have been a common enemy that united all Americans; instead, we politicized a virus, just like we do everything else.
Mask usage and mandates, lockdowns, treatments, vaccines, economic relief – all became flashpoints between liberals versus conservatives, blue states versus red states, progressives versus Team Trump.
Naturally, the mass communicators in the national media took a side – the same side they’ve been on throughout the Trump era and previously: Democrats good, Republicans bad.
Thus, we get the ridiculousness of New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo hailed as a hero – until the idea could no longer be sustained.
Still, the media is getting mileage out of scare tactics from President Joe Biden and his administration, even as the news on COVID is the best it’s been in months.
And CNN’s CEO just explained why.
What’s clear is that the vaccines and other measures, such as methods of treatment learned over the past year, are having an effect.
On Saturday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,679 new COVID-related deaths were reported nationwide – roughly half the number of a month ago.
The rolling seven-day fatality rate as of Saturday was down 46 percent from Feb. 6.
The number of new cases reported on Saturday stood at 56,606, just 20 percent of what it was two months ago and a figure not seen since mid-October.
One might think that the panic might be subsiding. And in fact, on Sunday night, COVID stories – at least those that discussed the medical aspects instead of the Democrats passing a nearly $2 trillion monstrosity relief package – were not readily seen on the websites of CNN and MSNBC.
Still, the media recognizes the value of ‘pandemic panic porn’, and could be prepared to ramp up the response at a moment’s notice.
WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, whose duties include overseeing CNN, explained how.
He told those gathered for the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference last week that COVID coverage was a ratings boom.
“It turns out that pandemic is a pretty big part of the news cycle, and that’s not going away anytime soon,” Kilar said, according to Breitbart News.
“If you take a look at the ratings and the performance, it’s going well. And I think it’s going well because, A, the team at CNN is doing a fantastic job. And B, it turns out that the pandemic and the way that we can help inform and contextualize the pandemic, it turns out it’s really good for ratings.”
When Wall Street Journal media reporter Joe Flint spotlighted Kilar’s remarks in a tweet, the CNN chief quickly backtracked.
“I would like nothing more than for this pandemic to be well behind us. I mean that with every fiber in my body. I wish I could go back and be more thoughtful about my communication,” he tweeted in reply to Flint.
NBC News reported last month that CNN’s profits for 2020 were $1.1 billion, up from $700 million in 2019.
Yes, keeping America in a constant state of alarm over COVID and blaming Donald Trump for it proved lucrative indeed.
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