There should be no doubt that Coronavirus is not the flu, and not like the flu. The incoming science tells us it is far more insidious in its contagious abilities. It has killed people. It also has exposed areas where the United States must immediately shore-up it’s abilities: the production of PPE’s and the production of drugs being at the top amongst a laundry list of items.
There should also be no doubt that members of the media have worked in an overtime capacity to spin coronavirus to invoke repeated attacks on President Trump. One can say that Trump deserves blame for the coronavirus response, but to do so, they must bring receipts; proof of the wrongdoing. If you cast blame, you need to be able to back it up.
Backing up the case against the media is, unfortunately, too easy. On cable news and in print, setting the Narrative – On Trump and Dr. Anthony Fauci, on Gov. Andrew Cuomo vs. Gov. Ron DeSantis, on Republican states vs. Democrat states, on lockdowns vs. liberty – has become job number one.
Narrative, as I define it, is the story pushed and perpetuated by American media, cultural elite and academia to ridicule, reduce and/or remove their cultural and political foes.
The latest example of Narrative was the Memorial Day Weekend edition of the New York Times. The headline read, “US Deaths Near 100,000. An Incalculable Loss.
As Noah Rothman wrote at Commentary Magazine: “Narrative journalism” is all the rage, in part, because it’s a smart business strategy. As the abstract of one 2019 study explained: “Views on the promises of narrative journalism stress its supposed positive influence on audience engagement and appreciation, an asset of increasing importance in light of the current crisis in journalism that is characterized by declining newspaper circulation.” And while the concept of narrative is an element in all storytelling, telling a tale in a compelling fashion is not synonymous with the prosecutorial portrayal of the facts in evidence. Indeed, these two objectives are sometimes in direct conflict.
But that business strategy comes not from an economic platform, but from an ideological one. In the case of coronavirus, the ideology states that Trump must be blamed at all costs. For example, Trump must be blamed for shutting down travel between China and the US, under the guise of xenophobia. Then, when circumstances changed, and it became clear that shutting down travel from China was beneficial, Trump must be blamed for not shutting down travel quick enough, and not just for Chinese nationals. Trump should have shut down the ability for American citizens to return to America!
The data matters not. The facts simply dispensable. The focus neither health nor safety. It’s about Power. Winning. Victory. The ends always justifying the means.
The Times uses dead Americans as a prop to move the Narrative. Does anyone doubt this conceptual art piece on the front page of the Times isn’t saying, “Look! Look at all the people Trump killed?”
A quick point about the list that was produced. Six names in, and you find someone who didn’t die from coronavirus. He was murdered: As was pointed out on Twitter:
Umm pic.twitter.com/eLPsmYZRS0
— Timothy Crimmins (@timcrimmins) May 23, 2020
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js What faith should one have in the New York Times? The answer, unfortunately, is none. For the Times, and their seemingly morally bankrupt editorial board, setting the Narrative of Trump’s “guilt” is more important than the truth. Calling Trump a murderer is journalism, and laying out their case with facts is just unnecessary distraction.
Adding to this failure is that the Times fails to notice that while Trump is their target, the victim of their egregious onslaught is you, me and we. It is the American citizen that loses the most in this failure. The New York Times might gain clicks, but the American people lose faith in the institutions that are supposed to keep us unbiasedly updated, and help us make informed decisions.
This Times piece is all Narrative. Want to talk about deaths? Talk about the arcane rules that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo forced nursing homes to comply with. The same rules, known to lead to deaths, were forced upon the people of Michigan by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
On this, there are receipts. Cobble Hill Health Center CEO Donny Tuchman begged to place patients with Covid-19 at the Javits Center field hospital, or on the United States Naval Ship Comfort; he was denied by Gov. Cuomo. All nursing homes in New York were told they must comply; they must accept coronavirus patients if they want to get funding. Only recently has Gov. Cuomo changed course, seeing the death toll of his horrific policies. Gov. Whitmer has finally changed course in Michigan.
Their policies led to deaths. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ policies protected nursing homes. But in American media, Gov. Cuomo is considered a hero and Gov. DeSantis is attacked vigorously. The facts show that DeSantis was right and Cuomo was wrong. The Narrative sells that Democrats are heroes and Republicans are failing the people.
Narrative – desire over facts – is more dangerous than Covid-19. And those it harms will take up far more than the front page of the Ideological Times.
