In case you missed it, the story advanced by Rolling Stone and Rachel Maddow — among many other liberal media — that gunshot victims in Oklahoma were having to wait for treatment because hospitals were being overrun by people who had OD’d on horse-dewormer was a hot load of garbage. It straight-up wasn’t true.
So you might think that it’d be the perfect fodder for a straightforward fact-check from a fact-checking authority, like, say, CNN’s Daniel Dale. There can be no equivocation in this particular case: media ran with a bogus narrative. Dale should have no problem with this one.
And yet:
Here’s a statement from a hospital that Oklahoma doctor is affiliated with, supporting his comments about ivermectin use contributing to hospital congestion in the state – though not suggesting, as viral stories did, that ivermectin is a main cause of the backup. (Thread!) pic.twitter.com/1AJF719u5x
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 6, 2021
As far as I can tell so far, what happened is the doctor gave an interview to a local outlet in which he cited ivermectin use as one reason some hospitals are congested. The outlet then framed ivermectin use as the main cause of the congestion, which it obviously isn’t. 2/
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 6, 2021
Then national and international media outlets aggregated the initial, poorly framed local story without themselves doing due diligence to examine the extent to which ivermectin was contributing to the OK hospital congestion. And Maddow and others tweeted out the stories. 3/
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 6, 2021
So: This was not great by anyone in the sharing chain. But then, some the people criticizing others for jumping to conclusions themselves jumped to conclusions based on a release from one OK hospital system that said it hadn’t seen any patients with ivermectin problems. 4/
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 6, 2021
Recommended
“Conservatives pounce!”
That hospital is only one of the ones this doctor is affiliated with, so its word was not actually definitive proof that the doctor was making the whole thing up. We now know at least one other hospital the doctor works with has indeed seen patients with ivermectin issues. 5/
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 6, 2021
I’ll note that the local outlet is standing by its story and released more footage from its interview with the doctor. Because it edited out the questions, though, it’s still not clear how much the doctor was attributing the congestion to ivermectin. 6/https://t.co/2UGccxzKv0..
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 6, 2021
Anyway: I’d say that lots of people involved here – certainly the local outlet/the big aggregating outlets/the prominent tweeters on the left, but also some critics on the right – could’ve done a better job pursuing facts/waiting for facts before coming to conclusions. 7/
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 6, 2021
“Conservatives seize!”
I’d say the major lesson for all parties here is that a comment from one person or entity is often insufficient to demonstrate that something is true or not true. Another lesson is to look for the initial source of stories that have gone viral via aggregation. That’s all for now!
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 6, 2021
Or it was all for now … Dale had more to say about it today:
Here's a breakdown of the viral Oklahoma-ivermectin mess, from 1) bad initial local story to 2) unquestioning national aggregation and tweets and then to 3) too-quick denunciations of the doctor whose comments had been poorly contextualized: https://t.co/kfkUN0AQMc
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 7, 2021
The doctor’s comments were just taken out of context, especially by conservatives! Perspective, people!
Fact checkers – SHOCKINGLY! – not fact checking. https://t.co/hBJSezlIy1
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) September 7, 2021
We’re just as shocked as you are, Dr. Shanker.
A hospital's statement about "a handful of [Ivermectin] patients" is the SOLE REASON given here why critics "jumped to conclusions", even though the ENTIRE PREMISE of the story was that Ivermectin were backing up hospitals so badly that gunshot victims were being ignored. Unreal. https://t.co/Le7WHgXxfC
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) September 7, 2021
"Patients overdosing on ivermectin backing up rural Oklahoma hospitals, ambulances" – @maddow tweet
Critics: This story is absolute crap!
One hospital: we've had a "handful" or Ivermectin patients
CNN: SEE!! IT'S PARTLY TRUE!! pic.twitter.com/EiptY7xSHV
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) September 7, 2021
Dale’s fact-checking logic is really something else:
CNN’s “fact checker” @ddale8 criticizes conservative media for “jumping to conclusions” about the fake Oklahoma/Ivermectin story. He says one hospital had a “handful of patients” and thus the story isn’t 100 percent false. pic.twitter.com/FCRlSUSrKc
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 7, 2021
We’ve come to expect this sort of hackery from Daniel Dale and CNN, but geez.
What needs to be explained, apparently, to Daniel Dale and others – saying conservative media is equally to blame completely ignores that Rolling Stone admitted it found ZERO cases at all, despite the claims it made.
That is not a “too-quick denunciation”. They admitted it. https://t.co/bE2TANzz7k pic.twitter.com/K5rRvnbD92— Brad Slager – Focused On Lasers (@MartiniShark) September 7, 2021
Daniel’s got to make this about conservatives.
— Stacy (@5tacyw) September 7, 2021
https://twitter.com/wretchedcretin/status/1435235796156653578
A perfect fit for CNN.
Also @CNN pic.twitter.com/BMDNIxNyUH
— Rheast LLC 🏳️🌈 (@_Rheast) September 7, 2021