CNN’s morning show, New Day has an odd obsession with attacking Fox News and “right wing media.” For the second day in a row, co-hosts John Berman and Brianna Keilar hyped a study from a liberal media-beloved academic that blames conservative media for spreading coronavirus conspiracy theories.
On Wednesday’s show, Berman was supposed to be asking CDC Director Rochelle Walensky about coronavirus guidelines. Instead he got political, actually prodding the CDC director to "blame" “conservative media” for COVID misinformation:
There's this report out of the University of Pennsylvania that talks about the role of conservative media has played. And it said, that, the reports by conservative media have increased people's willingness to believe conspiracy theories and reduced mask wearing and vaccinations basically. How much do you blame conservative media in this regard?
But like her predecessor, Walensky didn’t take the obvious bait. “I think this is less about populations and more about people and individuals,” she said adding, “So we need to talk to individuals one at a time, trusted messengers getting them the information that they need so in their individual choice, regardless of how they vote, regardless of what they listen to…”
To Berman’s credit, before this he did push back repeatedly on some of the illogical and irrational COVID restrictions being pushed by the left and even the CDC, such as vaccinated people being asked to wear masks indoors, and kids at Summer camp having to wear masks outdoors while playing.
But the 8 am hour ended by obsessing again over this same study by the University of Pennsylvania. In John Avlon’s “Reality Check” segment, he cherrypicked three comments made by Fox News hosts and the late talk show host Rush Limbaugh from very early in the pandemic warning about how the left was hyping but also using the virus to gain political control. Avlon’s quote he picked from Limbaugh comparing coronavirus to the common cold was made in February of 2020, before lockdowns, and before anyone publicly really knew anything about the virus. During this time the liberal media also made false claims yet you won’t see CNN bringing on a researcher to warn about the mainstream media’s role in spreading coronavirus conspiracies.
But the most laughable commentary came at the very end, when Avlon sternly scolded about “accurate information and quality journalism that focuses on facts:”
Now we see that 44% of Republicans say they won't get vaccinated. This is what happens down stream when people have been fed a steady diet of bile. The hyper-partisan echo chamber and how it's amplified online through algorithms can have a devastating effect on our ability to reason together as fellow citizens. Now the good news is that the spell can be broken when people are exposed to accurate information and quality journalism that focuses on facts. Which brings us to the decision expected in minutes from Facebook. Whether they'll re-platform ex-President Trump. Now this is a complex issue, but whatever decision they make, consider this. When Trump and his QAnon lackies were de-platformed after the attack on our Capitol, there was a 73% decrease in online election fraud misinformation within one week. And the cause and effect really couldn't be clearer. And that's your "Reality Check."
What does CNN know about accurate information and quality journalism that focuses on facts?
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Read the transcript portions below:
CNN’s New Day
5/5/2021
JOHN BERMAN: There's this report out of the university of Pennsylvania that talks about the role of conservative media has played. And it said, that, the reports by conservative media have increased people's willingness to believe conspiracy theories and reduced mask wearing and vaccinations basically. How much do you blame conservative media in this regard?
CDC DIRECTOR ROCHELLE WALENSKY: You know, I think this is less about populations and more about people and individuals. You know, when we say this population will get vaccinated and that population won't or this population heard this and this population heard that, you know I do think there's a lot of mis and disinformation out there and I think that’s quite unfortunate we're doing a lot that we can to combat that. What I will say is when it comes to vaccination, these are individual choices. So we need to talk to individuals one at a time, trusted messengers getting them the information that they need so in their individual choice, regardless of how they vote, regardless of what they listen to, their individual choice makes -- has them select to get a safe, effective vaccine.
…
JOHN AVLON: We know that disinformation is dangerous. Its politicized political health during a pandemic and inspired a lie about the election that led to an attack on our capitol. There's a new study out analyzing the roots and impact of this disinformation. And one of the biggest culprits is right wing media. That's right. A new study by researchers Kathleen Hall Jameison and Daniel Romer looked at the rise of COVID-19 conspiracies between March and July last year and found that, quote, “conservative media use predicted an increase in conspiracy beliefs.” And that, in turn, leads to resistance to protective measures like mask wearing and vaccinations
….
Now we see that 44% of Republicans say they won't get vaccinated. This is what happens down stream when people have been fed a steady diet of bile. The hyper-partisan echo chamber and how it's amplified online through algorithms can have a devastating effect on our ability to reason together as fellow citizens. Now the good news is that the spell can be broken when people are exposed to accurate information and quality journalism that focuses on facts. Which brings us to the decision expected in minutes from Facebook. Whether they'll re-platform ex-President Trump. Now this is a complex issue, but whatever decision they make, consider this. When Trump and his QAnon lackies were de-platformed after the attack on our Capitol, there was a 73% decrease in online election fraud misinformation within one week. And the cause and effect really couldn't be clearer. And that's your "Reality Check."
