Media bias again

January 27th, the day after Kobe Bryant's death. Look at the article on the left, it reports on the first 5 cases of Coronavirus in the US.
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/usa-today-us-edition/20200127/281496458256509

In a January 21st interview with Newsmax, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the epidemiologist who is leading the charge against the virus said "this is not a major threat for the people of the United States, and this is not something that the citizens of the United States right now should be worried about."

In January, Dr Tony Fauci was on my show telling America not to worry about the Coronavirus—that it wasn’t a major threat to the people. January 21, 2020, 20 seconds: pic.twitter.com/RLDivpgbAq

— Greg Kelly (@gregkellyusa) April 3, 2020

February 17th, Dr. Fauci says the risk from Coronavirus is miniscule and to skip the masks unless you're contagious (how would you know you're contagious?) 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/02/17/nih-disease-official-anthony-fauci-risk-of-coronavirus-in-u-s-is-minuscule-skip-mask-and-wash-hands/4787209002/

By early March, Fauci had changed his tune, saying the virus “could be really, really bad,” but still said he believed the situation could be mitigated
https://www.businessinsider.com/anthony-fauci-coronavirus-could-be-really-really-bad-2020-3

March 27th, CDC Director Robert Redfield told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade that he agreed with Fauci’s assessment at the time, and said that nobody could have predicted the outbreak that would eventually occur in the U.S.  “Obviously that became corrected as they saw in the first three, four weeks in January that human to human spread was not only occurring it’s actually, as I said, more infectious and I think that led to the situation that we’re in today. I think no one could have predicted how transmissible, how infectious this virus really is,” Redfield said.
https://radio.foxnews.com/2020/03/27/cdc-director-reacts-to-resurfaced-tape-of-dr-anthony-fauci-downplaying-virus-threat/

Those are verifiable statements from the country's top epidemiologists.

But yeah, it's all the Big Bad Orange Man's fault for not listening to his top experts and acting sooner, or at least that's what the liberal media wants you to think. The media does this because they've decided who they do and don't want for president, and they're using their power to sway public opinion to that end. Is that news, the simple reporting of information, or is it something else that has another name? Who do the liberal media work for, because it's clearly not us.

-Dave Bad Person

Attorney General Barr and people's short memories

The morning Trollpants, with host Dave Trollpants.

Funny how Attorney General Barr is facing departmental rebellion and a media hailstorm for "weaponizing the Department of Justice against the political opponents of the big bad orange man".

Where were these critics during operation "Crossfire Hurricane", the Clinton-campaign funded Steele dossier's unsupported allegations, the fraudulent FISA warrants, the Mueller Probe, the use of an ancient and never-before-enforced law to interrogate Flynn, the highly publicized leaks from the FBI, the corrupt and leaky FBI that Comey and McCabe ran?

And now McCabe is indignant about being dragged through the mud, and criticizes the length and cost of the investigation into his lying under oath.

Yet now Barr seeks to shine a light on how all these investigations started and it's suddenly an absolute outrage.

People have very short memories.

-Dave Trollpants

Michael Avennati is going to prison

It's been a while, but welcome again to Troll Time, with your favorite host, Dave Trollpants.

Michael Avenatti, remember that guy, Stormy Daniel's lawyer? Two years ago he was a daily face in the news and was considered a human Excalibur that could vanquish Trump once and for all. The liberal media loved his aggressive style, his promises to take down Trump, and his prediction that Trump wouldn't complete his first term. He was lauded as a "beast", "the savior of the republic", and "saving the country". They said Trump was "terrified" of him, that he was "Trump's worst nightmare", that he was a "folk hero", and an "existential threat to the Trump presidency".

Here's a video montage of the media's fawning over Avenatti.
https://streamable.com/qde1b

All that ego-stroking even had him considering a run for president himself, which made the liberal media froth at the mouth with excitement. They said if Democrats wanted a fighter they "would be foolish to underestimate Avenatti", and that he "stands out" among other candidates, and many liberal talking-heads showed their support.

Today however Americans look like a bunch of suckers ripped off by a grifter. Yesterday Avenatti was convicted of extortion, wire fraud and transmission of interstate communications with intent to extort. His crimes were so serious and numerous that he was hauled from the courtroom in the middle of a separate embezzlement trial, booked into jail, and refused bail. At his sentencing he faces up to 42 years in prison.

Just as they did for two years with the Mueller Report, just as they do every day, the liberal media played to the mentality of people who consider themselves more knowledgeable and sophisticated than average Americans, and once again those people got suckered and had their asses handed to them. Their ego-vanity complexes won't allow them to believe they're wrong. Walls don't work, tariffs don't work, this doesn't work, that doesn't work, nothing can be made to work, and Trump is an anti-Christ akin to Hitler, because the liberal media told them so.

SUCKERS!!

Of course, the main group of people suckered by Avenatti were the inner city social climbers. Meanwhile, the flyover forgotten Americans, those with no social status because they were deplorables, because they don't obsess over virtue signalling identity politics and coat themselves in white guilt, they saw through him. These are the same people who are attacked for their social status and portrayed as ignorant toothless working-class hillbillies that know nothing. Yet once again they turned out to be right.

https://freebeacon.com/politics/that-time-the-media-dubbed-michael-avenatti-savior-of-the-republic/


-Dave Trollpants

Disproportionate media coverage of Coronavirus

With the current levels of coronavirus coverage in the news, it's interesting to put things into perspective.

The centers for disease control (CDC) estimates there have been at least 15 million cases and 8200 deaths from influenza this flu season in the USA alone (flu season started Oct 1st). Mortality rate ~ 0.05%

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm


Total confirmed worldwide coronavirus infections so far: 6152.
Deaths: 132
Mortality rate: 2.15%

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/


I wasn't able to find the frequency of media mentions of coronavirus vs influenza and flu. However, looking at Google searches might give us some clues as to how people are being influenced by the media.

Relative frequency of Google searches in the week from Jan 19 to Jan 25,
Coronavirus: 38
Influenza and flu combined: 15

Projected relative frequency of searches for the week ending Feb 1st,
Coronavirus: 100
Influenza and flu combined: 17

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=Coronavirus%2CInfluenza%2CFlu



Clearly the media is a useful tool for the mass management of public opinion.

My question then is: why such heavy coverage of Coronavirus? Is it simply a disproportionate attempt to inform and educate the public, or is it because it's something fearful that motivates people and therefore gets more viewers so the media can sell more advertising, or is it something else?

-Dave Bad Person

Some other articles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novel_coronavirus_(2019-nCoV)

The Wuhan coronavirus was first reported to the World Health Organization on Dec 31st, 2019.

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2020/1/23/21079069/what-is-coronavirus-wuhan

China spent the crucial first days of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak arresting people who posted about it online and threatening journalists

https://www.businessinsider.com/china-information-crackdown-on-wuhan-coronavirus-2020-1

Coronavirus: from one food market to global panic
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/26/coronavirus-from-food-market-to-global-panic-response-mistakes

Coronavirus Is Spreading — And So Are the Hoaxes and Conspiracy Theories Around It
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/coronavirus-china-bat-patent-conspiracy-theory-942416/

These Lies And Conspiracies About The Wuhan Coronavirus Are Totally False
https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-all-the-nonsense-people-are-spreading-about-the-wuhan-coronavirus

Report: Outbreak of idiocy spreading 10,000 times faster than coronavirus
https://thebeaverton.com/2020/01/report-outbreak-of-idiocy-spreading-10000-times-faster-than-coronavirus/