Friday, April 24, 2020
Headlines for April 24, 2020
Worst, Most Misleading & Funniest Headlines for April 24, 2020
*US monitoring intelligence that North Korean leader is in grave danger after surgery
First of all, it wasn't "intelligence" (even in the more narrowly defined sense of "intelligence" as "the work of the CIA or NSA"), it was just some South Korean newspaper. So more like “rumors” or “claims” than actual “intelligence”. But the best part is this: "Experts are unsure of what to make of Kim's absence from any festivities celebrating his grandfather. When North Korean leaders have not shown up to these important celebrations in the past, it has portended major developments. But it has also turned out to be nothing."
*Chinese Agents Helped Spread Messages That Sowed Virus Panic in U.S., Officials Say
Subhead: American officials were alarmed by fake text messages and social media posts that said President Trump was locking down the country. Experts see a convergence with Russian tactics.
First of all, just yesterday Trump was on TV speculating about consuming or injecting bleach, suggestions so potentially deadly that this morning Lysol had to issue an official statement urging consumers not to consume or inject its product. And then there was the person who drank some pool chemical and died because it was a derivative of hydroxychloroquine. And also yesterday Rudy Giuliani was on Fox poohpoohing contact tracing, saying if it’s so good, why don’t we do contact tracing for cancer, obesity and heart disease? No misinformation from China or Russia could remotely compare to the misinformation coming from Trump and Fox and co.
Second of all, the entire premise has to be questioned. What “virus panic” are they talking about? People are scared of getting the disease, scared of losing their job and health insurance and being evicted and going hungry. Those are all perfectly rational responses to actual events, not to random tweets or text messages. The only “panic” I’ve seen was some panic buying of toilet paper and disinfectant. The panic in this headline is just standard right-wing anti-government nonsense.
And what messages are they referring to? Here’s the only example: “Spread the word, the messages said: The Trump administration was about to lock down the entire country. “They will announce this as soon as they have troops in place to help prevent looters and rioters,” warned one of the messages.” This is classic right-wing nonsense. It doesn’t require any help from China or anyone else to spread, and I wouldn’t be surprised if people didn’t hear the same paranoia from Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity.
Phrases in this article include: United States intelligence agencies have assessed that Chinese operatives helped push the messages… The origin of the messages remains murky. American officials declined to reveal details of the intelligence linking Chinese agents to the dissemination of the disinformation, citing the need to protect their sources and methods… Chinese agents also appear to be using texts and encrypted messaging apps. American intelligence officers are also examining whether spies in China’s diplomatic missions in the United States helped spread the fake lockdown messages… Other rival powers might have been involved…
*With Selective Coronavirus Coverage, China Builds a Culture of Hate
Subhead: The state propaganda machine highlights other countries’ mistakes while suppressing China’s, fueling anger toward foreigners and domestic critics alike.
Talk about projection! It’s an all-out propaganda war from the NYT, building a “culture of hate” against China. “The pandemic unfolded dramatically differently in China from the way it has in the rest of the world — at least, if one believes state-run Chinese media. Chinese news outlets used words like “purgatory” and “apocalypse” to describe the tragic hospital scenes in Italy and Spain. They have run photos of British and American medical workers wearing garbage bags as protective gear.” “A lot of the same miseries happened in China”. Really? Who’s spreading propaganda and building a culture of hate now?
*Liu Ouqing, Civil Servant Who Helped Feed Wuhan, Dies at 78
He was party secretary of the Wuhan Grain Bureau, why is his obit in the NYT (& the Mercury News!)? So they could have an excuse for some China-bashing, like “Not long after his death, local officials in Wuhan began pressuring Mr. Liu’s son to quickly bury his father, as the government was moving to control the narrative of the outbreak. The younger Mr. Liu did not protest, even though he resented being forced to share such a private moment with government-appointed chaperones” and “On Jan. 6, before his annual trip to Sanya, Mr. Liu went to a hospital in Wuhan for his health checkup. The day before, 59 cases of an unexplained “viral pneumonia” had been reported in the city, but local officials insisted there was no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission.”
China is not a ‘scapegoat’ if it’s guilty of unleashing virus
“it was the Chinese Communist regime, not the Trump administration, that unleashed this virus on the United States and the world through its lies and deception. Americans of all political stripes understand this and are more than willing to put the blame where it belongs. The Harris Poll finds 77% say the Chinese government is responsible for the spread of the virus, including 90% of Republicans and 67% of Democrats.
By lying to the world and obstructing an earlier global response to the virus, the Chinese Communist Party started this global forest fire.”
COVID-19: North Korea’s Missing Data
Filled with evidence-free speculation questioning that the DPRK has no cases.
‘Sadness’ and Disbelief From a World Missing American Leadership
Subhead: The coronavirus pandemic is shaking bedrock assumptions about U.S. exceptionalism. This is perhaps the first global crisis in more than a century where no one is even looking for Washington to lead.
Standard American exceptionalism. The last time the world was led by the U.S. was the invasion of Iraq. Also, here’s the first paragraph: “As images of America’s overwhelmed hospital wards and snaking jobless lines have flickered across the world, people on the European side of the Atlantic are looking at the richest and most powerful nation in the world with disbelief.” Isn’t this the kind of coverage the Times was criticizing when it appeared in Chinese media?
*Audience of his Peers
Donald Trump at a tree-planting ceremony to celebrate Earth Day, shortly after tweeting about how financial help was needed for the oil and gas industry. I’m not quite sure who his “peers” were, they appeared to be mostly old white men, almost certainly not an audience of people who love trees except possibly to cut them down.
