• 'It Flipped Overnight': Glenn Greenwald Points To The One Moment That C

    From Ubiquitous@21:1/5 to All on Wed Dec 29 04:30:44 2021
    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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