XPost: alt.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.media, sci.med.diseases
XPost: alt.journalism.criticism
Journalist Glenn Greenwald said in a Tuesday Twitter thread that there
was one single moment that changed media coverage of the coronavirus
pandemic — and that when it “flipped overnight,” it destroyed trust in
media.
The death of George Floyd — at the hands of former Minneapolis police
officer Derek Chauvin — and the massive protests it inspired prompted a near-180 turn from multiple media outlets that had just spent the
previous weeks telling Americans that the only patriotic thing to do
was stay home to stop the spread of the virus.
“This was a pivotal moment in the pandemic’s history,” Greenwald began.
“For 4 months, the message was clear and unrelenting: everyone must
stay home. Those who leave – even to go to a deserted beach – are
reckless sociopaths. It flipped overnight to endorse a mass protest
movement liberals liked.”
This was a pivotal moment in the pandemic’s history:
For 4 months, the message was clear and unrelenting: everyone
must stay home. Those who leave – even to go to a deserted
beach – are reckless sociopaths.
It flipped overnight to endorse a mass protest movement
liberals liked:
https://t.co/SJUIz0dbOw
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 28, 2021
Greenwald shared a tweet from June of 2020, just days after video of
Floyd’s arrest and subsequent murder went viral, showing the media
pivot: “Now some public health experts are broadcasting a new message:
It’s time to get out of the house and join the mass protests against
racism,” Politico reported at the time.
Now some public health experts are broadcasting a new message:
It’s time to get out of the house and join the mass protests
against racism
https://t.co/RNPChRWCku
— POLITICO (@politico) June 7, 2020
“That episode single-handedly destroyed trust in public health
officials, proving they’d politicize their expertise when convenient,” Greenwald continued, referencing experts who had joined media
broadcasts to argue that systemic racism and police brutality posed
greater health risks than the rapidly-spreading virus. “Corporate media celebrated a douchebag-lawyer shaming families at deserted beaches,
then — overnight! — cheered densely packed street protests.”
That episode single-handedly destroyed trust in public health
officials, proving they’d politicize their expertise when
convenient.
Corporate media celebrated a douchebag-lawyer shaming families
at deserted beaches, then — overnight! — cheered densely packed
street protests. pic.twitter.com/DvOzIr5JX8
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 28, 2021
Multiple outlets ran with the narrative that “structural racism” was
more deadly to black Americans than COVID could ever be — even as
others continued to complain that COVID appeared to impact communities
of color more than it did primarily white communities.
And that, according to Greenwald, was precisely the narrative he was
asked to support even as he was writing a breakdown of the media’s
reversal on the issue.
“In June, I was drafting an article on this flagrantly politicized
reversal of COVID messaging. When @theintercept editors learned this,
they commissioned an article — for the same day — to argue racism, not
COVID, was the greatest health crisis, so everyone *should* go
protest,” he said.
In June, I was drafting an article on this flagrantly
politicized reversal of COVID messaging. When @theintercept
editors learned this, they commissioned an article — for the
same day — to argue racism, not COVID, was the greatest health
crisis, so everyone *should* go protest.
pic.twitter.com/22RjUrlVK2
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 28, 2021
“As usual, elite institutions — media, government, public health
authorities — love to whine about the refusal of the public to trust
their pronouncements, complaining people turn to other less
credentialed and worthy sources,” Greenwald concluded. “But they
*never* ask what they did to cause this.”
As usual, elite institutions — media, government, public
health authorities — love to whine about the refusal of the
public to trust their pronouncements, complaining people turn
to other less credentialed and worthy sources.
But they *never* ask what they did to cause this.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 28, 2021
Greenwald ultimately left The Intercept — which he cofounded in 2013 —
several months after the George Floyd protests began, saying that the
outlet had censored his articles about Hunter Biden, President Joe
Biden, and the president’s past dealings with China and Ukraine.
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