6 ms·

This is the sort of false equivalency that leads to claims that they all lie, so it's okay if Fox egregiously lies. We see this on HN all the time where someone

This is the sort of false equivalency that leads to claims that they all lie, so it's okay if Fox egregiously lies. We see this on HN all the time where someone stomps their feet and cries about a news headline that they think doesn't convey just the right slant that they want, ergo it's the same as the guy inventing bullshit conspiracy theories on his blog. No, they weren't "chastising" Trump over the China travel ban because there was no China travel ban. There was a Wuhan restriction only applicable to foreigners. Thousands of Americans were going and coming with no restrictions whatsoever. Fly into Wuhan, lick the toilet seats, fly back home. Do it the next day. There was zero screening. Zero containment. Zero listening to the pandemic experts. No, they aren't the same. This revisionist "they were dismissing the virus" nonsense is utter horseshit of the worst kind. It is a lie of profound ignorance and gullibility, or an intentional lie, and both are just as obnoxious.

AndrewBissell 6y ago
The equivalency being drawn by the parent may be wrong, but mainstream sources outside Fox News absolutely downplayed the seriousness of the virus and helped push the "it's not a big deal" perception that we are all now rowing against.
- endorphone 6y ago
  but mainstream sources outside Fox News absolutely downplayed the seriousness of the virus and helped push the "it's not a big deal" perception that we are all now rowing against. Yet many, including right here on HN, were claiming exactly the opposite: That they were fear mongering, inciting panic, etc. It can't be both. Here's the NYT from February 2nd - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/02/health/coronavirus-pandemic-china.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/02/health/coronavirus-pandem... Feb 9th - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/09/world/asia/china-coronavirus-sars.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/09/world/asia/china-coronavi... Zero "downplaying". I recall being quite concerned, seeing the argument that is was overblown and just a flu, etc, and discounting that as nonsense. Can you find an article on the NYTimes, MSNBC or something that compares it to the flu or the like? Absolutely. Those mediums have varied voices with different perspectives, quite unlike Fox where the entire organization is given marching orders and a narrative they must push. The overall perspective among the non-Fox mainstream media was very concerned. When the sea level rises and floods lower Manhattan, I'm sure there'll be people saying "Why didn't the media warn us? They downplayed the risk!"
  - s_y_n_t_a_x 6y ago
    > quite unlike Fox where the entire organization is given marching orders and a narrative they must push. Honestly that seems more like the NYTimes or something. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/new-york-times-meeting-transcript.html https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/new-york-times-m... Do you have proof Fox is like this and other media organizations aren't? I'd honestly would like to see it. We all have access to wikileaks so we should all know which organizations were in bed with the DNC (thanks dkim!).
  - jshevek 6y ago
    Of course it could be both, at different points in time. Edit: as well as different people within the organization.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > but mainstream sources outside Fox News absolutely downplayed the seriousness of the virus That's true, I guess, if you consider OANN to have reached the status of “mainstream” with the boost they've gotten with their attachment to the current US administration. But, otherwise, show me some specific examples.
  - fourmyle 6y ago
    You can look on Youtube yourself and see countless examples o MSNBC and CNN criticizing the travel ban on China because the virus wasn't any more dangerous than the flu.
    - dragonwriter 6y ago
      I actually followed the coverage the first time, and where the ban was criticized it was almost entirely for being too late for that response to be useful, not unwarranted by the severity of the disease. Of course, if there really are “countless” examples supporting your characterization, it will be easy for you to cite some.
      - s_y_n_t_a_x 6y ago
        The China travel ban was ordered on Jan 28th and active on Feb 3rd. The WHO didn't confirm human transmission until Jan 25th... Some of many examples of the media in Jan and Feb: https://twitter.com/LizRNC/status/1245478539018805251?s=20 https://twitter.com/LizRNC/status/1245478539018805251?s=20 https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/01/31/how-our-brains-make-coronavirus-seem-scarier-than-it-is/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/01/31/how-our-br... https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/18/world/europe/coronavirus-stigma-europe.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/18/world/europe/coronavirus-... https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/03/the-flu-has-already-killed-10000-across-us-as-world-frets-over-coronavirus.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/03/the-flu-has-already-killed-1... https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1225937322694381568 https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1225937322694381568 https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1223676237060636672 https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/122367623706063667... https://i.imgur.com/43n4HWK.png https://i.imgur.com/43n4HWK.png EDIT: the mental gymnastics below is real, I'll add more examples as I find them, you can choose how wrong they got it and if Fox is worse, or when or how each individual should apologize... P.S. you guys are nuts, everyone was saying "it's less than 2%!!!" But yeah, us conservatives and the only conservative mainstream news channel and our conservative President are the source of all of your problems. /s No it's a tacky political attack in the middle of a crisis. Real classy.
- dmode 6y ago
  Completely disagree. The Fox news and related contingent and their response was drastically different than the other side. For example, SF declared an emergency in February and everyone was working from home since early March. While Florida had no such order till last week

AndrewBissell 6y ago

The equivalency being drawn by the parent may be wrong, but mainstream sources outside Fox News absolutely downplayed the seriousness of the virus and helped push the "it's not a big deal" perception that we are all now rowing against.

endorphone 6y ago
but mainstream sources outside Fox News absolutely downplayed the seriousness of the virus and helped push the "it's not a big deal" perception that we are all now rowing against. Yet many, including right here on HN, were claiming exactly the opposite: That they were fear mongering, inciting panic, etc. It can't be both. Here's the NYT from February 2nd - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/02/health/coronavirus-pandemic-china.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/02/health/coronavirus-pandem... Feb 9th - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/09/world/asia/china-coronavirus-sars.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/09/world/asia/china-coronavi... Zero "downplaying". I recall being quite concerned, seeing the argument that is was overblown and just a flu, etc, and discounting that as nonsense. Can you find an article on the NYTimes, MSNBC or something that compares it to the flu or the like? Absolutely. Those mediums have varied voices with different perspectives, quite unlike Fox where the entire organization is given marching orders and a narrative they must push. The overall perspective among the non-Fox mainstream media was very concerned. When the sea level rises and floods lower Manhattan, I'm sure there'll be people saying "Why didn't the media warn us? They downplayed the risk!"
- s_y_n_t_a_x 6y ago
  > quite unlike Fox where the entire organization is given marching orders and a narrative they must push. Honestly that seems more like the NYTimes or something. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/new-york-times-meeting-transcript.html https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/new-york-times-m... Do you have proof Fox is like this and other media organizations aren't? I'd honestly would like to see it. We all have access to wikileaks so we should all know which organizations were in bed with the DNC (thanks dkim!).
- jshevek 6y ago
  Of course it could be both, at different points in time. Edit: as well as different people within the organization.
dragonwriter 6y ago
> but mainstream sources outside Fox News absolutely downplayed the seriousness of the virus That's true, I guess, if you consider OANN to have reached the status of “mainstream” with the boost they've gotten with their attachment to the current US administration. But, otherwise, show me some specific examples.
- fourmyle 6y ago
  You can look on Youtube yourself and see countless examples o MSNBC and CNN criticizing the travel ban on China because the virus wasn't any more dangerous than the flu.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    I actually followed the coverage the first time, and where the ban was criticized it was almost entirely for being too late for that response to be useful, not unwarranted by the severity of the disease. Of course, if there really are “countless” examples supporting your characterization, it will be easy for you to cite some.
    - s_y_n_t_a_x 6y ago
      The China travel ban was ordered on Jan 28th and active on Feb 3rd. The WHO didn't confirm human transmission until Jan 25th... Some of many examples of the media in Jan and Feb: https://twitter.com/LizRNC/status/1245478539018805251?s=20 https://twitter.com/LizRNC/status/1245478539018805251?s=20 https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/01/31/how-our-brains-make-coronavirus-seem-scarier-than-it-is/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/01/31/how-our-br... https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/18/world/europe/coronavirus-stigma-europe.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/18/world/europe/coronavirus-... https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/03/the-flu-has-already-killed-10000-across-us-as-world-frets-over-coronavirus.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/03/the-flu-has-already-killed-1... https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1225937322694381568 https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1225937322694381568 https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1223676237060636672 https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/122367623706063667... https://i.imgur.com/43n4HWK.png https://i.imgur.com/43n4HWK.png EDIT: the mental gymnastics below is real, I'll add more examples as I find them, you can choose how wrong they got it and if Fox is worse, or when or how each individual should apologize... P.S. you guys are nuts, everyone was saying "it's less than 2%!!!" But yeah, us conservatives and the only conservative mainstream news channel and our conservative President are the source of all of your problems. /s No it's a tacky political attack in the middle of a crisis. Real classy.
dmode 6y ago
Completely disagree. The Fox news and related contingent and their response was drastically different than the other side. For example, SF declared an emergency in February and everyone was working from home since early March. While Florida had no such order till last week