Media Keep Stifling the Covid Debate
By Daniel Halperin, March 31, 2023, WSJ
Now that the Covid pandemic is behind us, you’d think scientists and the media could have an honest conversation about what they got wrong and what lessons they’ve learned. Think again.

On Jan. 30, the Cochrane Collaboration, highly regarded for its rigorous systematic reviews, published an update of its meta-analysis of masking and other physical methods to prevent respiratory illnesses. It found no strong evidence for masking, and the
initial media response was silence. After conservative media covered the study, the mainstream press went on the attack. The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Atlantic and others piled on.

As an epidemiologist, I hoped the review might dent the politicized discourse surrounding masks and other prevention measures. I sent an article to Time magazine, which had recently published my work. My editor appeared positive, requesting some
reasonable modifications and focusing. He wrote me on Feb. 23 that the piece would be “published overnight.” The next day, instead of the article link, he forwarded me a tweet by Michael Mina, a medical researcher. Dr. Mina’s tweet complained that
Cochrane reviews “are becoming dangerous tools of ‘scientists’ w agendas.” He cited an earlier review “attempting to discredit rapid tests.” Dr. Mina is an executive at eMed, a rapid-test company.

Eventually the editor resumed contact and asked for some further changes, which I readily accepted. “I think we’re set,” he wrote. “My colleague will finalize and publish.” I heard nothing from him until two weeks later, when he finally
confirmed Time had decided to kill the piece.

I ended up publishing the article in a conservative outlet. My experience seems to illustrate the media’s continuing aversion to debate over the science of Covid, the official response to it, and the media’s own efforts to squelch dissent.

“Follow the science,” they said throughout the pandemic. You can’t do that if you suppress scientific debate.

Mr. Halperin is an adjunct professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC Chapel Hill and author of “Facing Covid Without Panic.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/media-keep-stifling-the-covid-debate-masking-pandemic-mainstream-cochrane-collaboration-science-agenda-2e5f978c

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