Media Uses Coronavirus to Create False Narrative Against President Trump
Written By: Emma Randich
Amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, the media has wasted no time in turning what should be an unpolitical, national unification, into a false narrative. They have blamed President Trump for a virus that began in China which the Chinese government lied and covered up. The media is using this national health crisis to add to their agenda to make America believe that President Trump is the reason for all of America´s faults
In an MSN article ¨Many Experts Fault Trump's Latest Solutions for Coping with Coronavirus¨ it explains how ¨experts¨, though none were listed within the article besides known democratic public health law professor Lawrence Gostin, disagree with how the president is dealing with the Coronavirus. Keep in mind that there is a 60% approval Gallup poll from the American people on how the President has handled this pandemic (Geanous, Jacob. Metro) . These unnamed experts claim that ¨Trump's travel restrictions do little to contain the spread of COVID-19¨ (Nakamura, David. MSN). This article also entails that President Trump ¨has gone against the warnings of the administrations medical experts¨ which also is incorrect. Not only is the wording of this article skewed to fit a narrative, but the information in it is as well. President Trump with the help from his Coronavirus task force team made of public health officials including, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, Dr. Anthony Fauci Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and American physician Deborah Birx put travel restrictions on China and Europe. Instead of having little effect like this article claimed, it turns out it has had great effect on the spread of COVID-19. According to Dr. Fauci ¨[The] Trump Administration's early decision to ban most travel from China slowed the spread of the Wuhan Flu in the U.S” (Arthur, Andrew. Center for Immigration Studies). When it comes to immigration unfortunately, it is expected that the media will criticize the president and his decisions.
In another MSN article ¨Squandered Time: How the Trump Administration Lost Control of the Coronavirus Crisis¨ they try to show any fault Trump has made throughout this crisis by first starting the article with 10 clips of Trump downplaying the Coronavirus. These clips show the president trying to send out calming messages to the public to try to avoid panic. Do they want the president to come out and tell the whole country that everyone should panic and be afraid? If he were to do that, then they would attack him for that as well. The most recent and most outrageous story that has come out was written by Buzzfeed. It took a story of how a couple consumed a product meant to disinfect a fish tank and to fight against parasites in fish due to it containing Chloroquine Phosphate which has been used on people infected by Coronavirus. The headline for this story instantly puts blame on Trump by wording it ¨A Man Died After Self-Medicating with a Drug Trump Promoted as a Potential Treatment for the Coronavirus¨. The woman who ingested this product and lived told news sources that she “was in the pantry stacking dog food… [and] saw it sitting in the back shelf and thought, ‘hey, isn’t that the stuff they’re talking about on TV?’ ¨ (Irvine, Spencer. Aim). She never stated that her choice to ingest this product was because she was instructed to by the president.
Buzzfeed news reporter Brianna Sacks added to the initial story by putting the fault on the president due to him mentioning the testing of chloroquine phosphate which is used on patients with Malaria, and it's so far positive effects on coronavirus patients. President Trump has never come out and recommended to the public to try to self-medicate against Coronavirus or consume products filled with many other chemical substances meant for a different species due to it having an amount of chloroquine phosphate, which is only going through testing at this moment, to combat Coronavirus.
Sources:
Arthur, Andrew R. “Dr. Fauci: Trump China Restrictions Slowed Spread of the Wuhan Flu.” CIS.org, 16 Mar. 2020, cis.org/Arthur/Dr-Fauci-Trump-China-Restrictions-Slowed-Spread-Wuhan-Flu.
Geanous, Jacob. “Donald Trump Approval Rating Reaches All-Time High amid Coronavirus Crisis.” Metro, Metro.co.uk, 24 Mar. 2020, metro.co.uk/2020/03/24/donald-trump-approval-rating-reaches-time-high-amid-coronavirus-crisis-12451624/.
Irvine, Spencer, and Brigham Young University in International Relations. “BuzzFeed Blames Trump for Man's Death after He Ingested Fish Tank Additive.” Accuracy in Media, Accuracy in Media, 24 Mar. 2020, www.aim.org/aim-column/buzzfeed-blames-trump-for-mans-death-after-he-ingested-fish-tank-additive/.
Parker, Ashley, et al. “Squandered Time: How the Trump Administration Lost Control of the Coronavirus Crisis.” MSN, 8 Mar. 2020, www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/squandered-time-how-the-trump-administration-lost-control-of-the-coronavirus-crisis/ar-BB10SJJJ.
Nakamura, David, et al. “Many Experts Fault Trump's Latest Solutions for Coping with Coronavirus.” MSN, 13 Mar. 2020, www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/many-experts-fault-trump-s-latest-solutions-for-coping-with-coronavirus/ar-BB117dm9.
Sacks, Brianna. “A Man Died After Self-Medicating With A Drug Trump Promoted As A Potential Treatment For The Coronavirus.” BuzzFeed News, BuzzFeed News, 23 Mar. 2020, www.buzzfeednews.com/article/briannasacks/man-died-chloroquine-phosphate-coronavirus.