As Twitchy has reported, journalists were accusing Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp of conducting an “experiment in human sacrifice” by partially reopening the state to business. Blue-checks like Ron Fournier tweeted something about Kemp having blood on his hands and telling people to mark his tweet because in two or three weeks there’d be a huge spike in coronavirus deaths. That spike didn’t happen, and when called out, he said to wait another three weeks and check back.
Texas has been open for two weeks now, and CNN’s John King reports that coronavirus cases and deaths have hit a record high.
Texas is seeing the highest number of new coronavirus cases and deaths just two weeks after it officially reopened. @JohnKingCNN explores the trend in Texas as the debate on risk of reopening continues.https://t.co/5fvdaNxmba pic.twitter.com/pSV0U8fd1q
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) May 15, 2020
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
Recommended
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
