‘This is just bad journalism’: CNN slammed for reporting on record COVID-19 deaths just two weeks after Texas reopened

Here’s Sean Trende from Real Clear Politics with a damning thread about CNN’s reporting:

Oh FFS. 1/ https://t.co/FOim1xMHmg

— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) May 16, 2020

Here's the 7-day rolling average of new cases in Texas. Looks pretty bad! 2/ pic.twitter.com/DR1AzzcUsu

— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) May 16, 2020

BUT, here's the 7-day rolling average of tests in Texas. 3/ pic.twitter.com/UjXxcPwqA7

— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) May 16, 2020

And here's the 7-day rolling average of *positive* tests in Texas. 4/ pic.twitter.com/9IQEYvNcdi

— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) May 16, 2020

Which, maybe if Texas had stayed shut down we'd have seen an even greater drop. There's an honest debate to be had here. But the only way we have an honest debate is with honest reporting, and that is in short supply. 5/

— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) May 16, 2020

So I come back to something I said early on. If the only place you can go to get the positive side of the story is crackpots, then people will gravitate to crackpots. Do better. 6/6

— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) May 16, 2020

People are having trouble with this, so let me explain. If a caseload in a state is constant, and you test more people, you're going to appear to get more cases. If it's declining and you test a *lot* more people, same effect. 7/6

— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) May 16, 2020

Did Texas make the right policy choice here? IDK. I was openly skeptical of what Georgia was doing, and in a month or two the air conditioning capitol of the world might look like NYC. 8/6

— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) May 16, 2020

Like I said, there is room for a vigorous, robust and honest public debate. That is not what CNN is giving here. It has a storyline it wants to write, and by God it is going to write it. 9/6

— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) May 16, 2020

And it isn't just here. It's Wisconsin, and Georgia, and Florida (twice!) and others I've probably forgotten. 10/6

— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) May 16, 2020

And this matters. The stakes on re-opening and staying closed are incredibly high, so it's crucial to get a full set of facts out there. For people who *do* pay attention, it fosters cynicism and distrust of media and experts at a time we need them. 11/6https://t.co/0ajNcJwGHY

— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) May 16, 2020

And here’s Nate Silver:

There are still *way* too many stories about big spikes in cases when the cause of those spikes was a big increase in tests. And remember, it's a good thing when states start doing more tests! https://t.co/83EDe62YSs

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) May 16, 2020

At first, this was an understandable mistake. Most people haven't covered this sort of story before and the data is less straightforward than you might assume. But it's been 2+ months now. It's now a lazy, careless mistake. And it's increasingly verging into being dishonest.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) May 16, 2020

I still see almost daily articles misleading their readers with that framing despite many of us noting it being misleading weeks ago. https://t.co/WP1rIWqZ6M https://t.co/O8N8Pfqnca

— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) May 16, 2020

See? This was CNN yesterday. He spent 10 minutes discussing new case counts in Texas without putting them in context relative to testing. This is just bad journalism. https://t.co/lDTVMlkKiT https://t.co/4AC4yJdwsn

— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) May 16, 2020

No it's not. It's intentionally misleading. That's not journalism of any kind.

— northcliqueboy (@chadwhitfield5) May 16, 2020

It’s @CNN. Of course it is.

— Snow Miser (@Snow_Miser_) May 16, 2020

It's intentional misinformation and gaslighting.

— Shecky (@SheckyShabazzJr) May 16, 2020

I know I’m stating the obvious but there’s more bad journalism than good these days.

— Ars longa, vita brevis (@bebe_strange) May 16, 2020

Seriously — we hate to ask, but how many journalists are hoping the number of cases go up in states that have the temerity to partially reopen? Salivating over that two-week spike is just reprehensible.

Related:

Blue-check asks for 3 more weeks to prove himself right on Georgia (add Florida, too) https://t.co/lMUtyrur0D

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 13, 2020