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A FAILURE, BUT NOT OF PREDICTION
Slate Star Codex ^ | 14 Apr 2020 | Scott Alexander

Posted on 04/16/2020 4:02:12 PM PDT by Rummyfan

Vox asks What Went Wrong With The Media’s Coronavirus Coverage? They conclude that the media needs to be better at “not just saying what we do know, but what we don’t know”. This raises some important questions. Like: how much ink and paper is there in the world? Are we sure it’s enough? But also: how do you become better at saying what you don’t know?

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock recently (honestly, valid) the media not only failed to adequately warn its readers about the epidemic, but actively mocked and condescended to anyone who did sound a warning. Real Clear Politics has a list of highlights. The Vox tweet saying “Is this going to be a deadly pandemic? No.” Washington Post telling us in February “Why we should be wary of an aggressive government reponse to coronavirus (it might “scapegoat marginalized populations”). The Daily Beast complaining that “coronavirus, with zero American fatalities, is dominating headlines, while the flu is the real threat”. The New York Times, weighing in with articles like “The pandemic panic” and “Who says it’s not safe to travel to China”. The constant attempts to attribute “alarmism” over the virus to anti-Chinese racism. Etc, etc, etc.

One way people have summed this up is that the media (and the experts they relied on) did a terrible job predicting what would happen. I think this lets them off too easy.

(Excerpt) Read more at slatestarcodex.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Politics; Society
KEYWORDS:
Th media has been quite simply, horrible.
1 posted on 04/16/2020 4:02:12 PM PDT by Rummyfan
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To: Rummyfan

What Went Wrong With The Media’s Coronavirus Coverage?

It was “Orange Man Bad” from the very start. That’s what went wrong.


2 posted on 04/16/2020 4:05:24 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

Correct. And all of the predictions by experts have been incorrect - models were flawed, resulting in inflated predictions, number-wise.


3 posted on 04/16/2020 4:07:49 PM PDT by Tudorfly (All things are possible within the will of God.)
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To: BenLurkin

Yep. The media have collectively succumbed to a case of tunnel vision so narrow that the entire world can only appear to them in the context of “How does this help us get Trump?” In an individual patient a psychiatrist would call this self-destructive monomania.


4 posted on 04/16/2020 4:09:29 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Rummyfan

I got to “coronavirus will be a nightmarish worldwide pandemic” and quit.

Cause it’s not. He got 2 outta 3 (but only because worldwide and pandemic are sort of redundant). But it is definitely not “nightmarish”. Not compared to the self-inflicted world-wide economic depression we have put ourselves in.

0.00000000000000x% of worldwide population dying of something is not worth what we’ve allowed our “masters” to do to us.


5 posted on 04/16/2020 4:14:24 PM PDT by Spaceman61
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To: Rummyfan
This blogger is a leftish dude but he's really honest, smart, and, in all fairness, gets a few things right. He's worth the time to read. This is a great quote:

Did you follow that? For a good parachute (randomized controlled trial), half the subjects would have to jump out of a plane wearing a placebo parachute. The authors suggest maybe we enlist doctors who insist too stringently on RCTs over common sense for this dubious honor...Even though regular medicine has good reasons for being as conservative as it is, during a crisis you have to be able to think on your feet.

6 posted on 04/16/2020 4:15:23 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2)
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To: Rummyfan

They have been for decades


7 posted on 04/16/2020 4:20:47 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: Rummyfan
Th media has been quite simply, horrible.

Quite simply, you are correct: the media hates Christians because there is SUCH a moral message...especially Catholics with their no abortion, no divorce-remarry-divorce-remarry-a la Liz Taylor, etc., no married clergy/nuns/friars/brothers, no required Sunday and holy day Mass attendance, no Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Communion twice a year, no meat on Fridays during lent, no fasting during Lent, no blaspheming, no coveting, no lying, stealing... etc.
The list never ends!

My goodness it's no WONDER that non-Catholics exist. That's WAY too much to ask for us to do, even if it's for the greater glory and honor of God. He'll understand if I never enter a Church, say a rosary, fast, abstain, divorce-remarry-divorcee-remarry, get an abortion or two, never read the Bible, eat meat whenever I want.

And, if I do something bad I just say/think "Sorry, Lord" and I'm forgiven...even if I do the same thing ten more times a day. And, of course, there's no penance, no repercussions. After all, I did say "sorry, Lord" EVERY TIME. That's ALL I gotta do!

And "purgatory"?? PLEASE. That HAS to be a Catholic figment of their imagination.

As one of my oldest (non-Catholic) friends says: "All I have to do is be nice."

8 posted on 04/16/2020 4:31:50 PM PDT by cloudmountain
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To: Rummyfan

There are very few fields and “experts” out there you can actually trust. None of them are doctors, scientists, lawyers, teachers, or “reporters”.


9 posted on 04/16/2020 4:33:20 PM PDT by vpintheak (Live free, or die!)
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To: Spaceman61
0.00000000000000x% of worldwide population dying of something is not worth what we’ve allowed our “masters” to do to us.

That few?
The media will never tell us that number. They will ALWAYS focus solely on what sells...DEATH and DOOM.

10 posted on 04/16/2020 4:36:05 PM PDT by cloudmountain
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To: Rummyfan

The media has been wrong quite a bit. They have tried to scare people a lot. And they have tried to politicize the epidemic as well. In fact, the media has been one of the greatest obstacles for us getting through this crises.

They have repeated misinformation without question. They have not given us easy instructional information. They have often repeated information from China, especially the wet-market information. They have often put out misinformation and later changed their talking points without ever referencing their previous mistakes. And if Trump says it, they attack it regardless of the truth.


11 posted on 04/16/2020 4:36:11 PM PDT by poinq
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