Media COVID-19 Coverage: The Real Danger?

Everyone’s tired of the pandemic, right? It’s been proven to be deadly, it’s been argued over, and it’s been a massive issue for the world at large. But it’s also been given the spotlight so that the real issue that few want to talk about can continue to be the worst plague that has ever bedeviled humanity can continue. It’s a bit tough to say that the news media is all bad since there are a few points that can be made for its continued existence, such as:

1. News from around the world IS still important.
2. Ignorance only breeds quicker when there’s no way to connect one point in the world to another.
3. The news media CAN help to connect people using a common cause.
4. There are moments when the news media is entertaining and therefore steps away from the humdrum, boring newscasts that might otherwise make it less appealing.

The points above are just a few of the ideal reasons to argue for the news media, and they’re still relevant for the most part. Those that have taken issue with the media, especially over the last several years, and definitely since 2016, are typically those that still manage to think for themselves and don’t follow the single, tired old beat that the news media tries to employ when getting people to believe and behave the way they want.

Is It The Media, or The People promoting panic?

It’s way too easy to blame something like the news media for the woes that have affected our lives and those of many other over the past few years, and yet that easy out is as much illusion as it is reality sometimes. That sounds pretty contradictory, doesn’t it? Welcome to the world, glad to see you made it, now pull up a chair, and let’s discuss why humans are one of the craziest species on the face of this world and how it’s severely messed-up that we’re allowed to control anything more complex than our most basic impulses. Seriously, humans are nuts, and don’t let anyone tell you differently. But since we’re all a bunch of mixed and assorted beings there’s one core thing we should be remembering.

We’re stuck in this world together, and as such, it should be understood that there are a few fundamental truths that we should cling to, such as:

1. You’re born, you grow, and eventually you die. Hey, it’s basic and to the point, no matter how much filler you add.
2. No matter who or where you are, it’s likely you will encounter someone that’s not like you, whether it’s your appearance or thought processes. Best rule of thumb? Be nice until the other person isn’t nice, and maybe things will work out.
3. More people working together for a common goal can accomplish more than one person can on their own. Even billionaires didn’t do everything by themselves.
4. So you pray to someone, or no one. Who cares? Why does that matter to anyone but the person that believes as they do? Let them have their belief, and you get yours, easy peasy lemon-squeezie. Or as the great Christopher Walken would say “Okie dokie artichokie.”

You might be wondering what in the hell this all has to do with the pandemic, but I promise, I’m getting there. A type of baseline needed to be established to make certain that people understand that PEOPLE can coexist when they’re given a reason and when they’re left to their own devices. Of course, some people feel the need to act like dicks and ignore basic human decency, that’s a part of the humanity package that was dropped off so long ago. But if humans are allowed to choose, quite a few of us would choose to just get along and go along. Here’s the kicker though: that doesn’t make headlines.

Bending Your Will or Bending You Over?

 The pandemic has hit everyone hard in some way, and it’s been felt all over the world whether it’s having to wear a mask just to be out in public, not being able to attend movie theaters or restaurants for a year or so, or anything else that we took for granted. The virus is real, that much we’re agreed upon, but the manner in which it’s been handled has been far less than what people might have expected. Casting the blame in so many different directions has been easy, and despite this fact, the blame for the doom and gloom that people have had to deal with has been misdirected so often that it almost feels like a whirlpool effect that has no definitive conclusion. A lot of us know where the issue is, and what’s really stirring the pot, but so very few people are willing to hold the media accountable that it’s been a thing of ease for ‘journalists’ and news anchors to ‘speak their truth’ when they’re supposed to be stating facts, not opinions.

 To be fair here, it’s been coming thick and quick from both sides of the aisle while a lot of us are simply trying to get through this pandemic once and for all. Some people are pushing the vaccine as though it’s a version of the second coming, and others are saying it’s poison and that the side effects aren’t worth it. Those in the media are loving this since from day one they’ve been using the pandemic to stir up their ratings, and sadly, it’s worked. That’s the business and that’s the game, unfortunately, but the media doesn’t necessarily play to win, they play to keep people bickering at one another, which is their biggest victory. It’s no longer all about informing the people and keeping them safe, it’s about letting the people with the loudest and most obnoxious voices have their say in order to get people to chime in and give their two cents worth. Sadly, even with inflation, that appears to be what the common person’s opinion is worth unless it manages to stir up a bit of controversy.

Does The Media Care About people?

That’s debatable despite what a lot of folks, including myself, might say. There’s no doubt that the media, as individuals, care about people in their lives, and it’s likely that some of them are humanitarians and aren’t in it just for ratings. But once that camera is on, the ratings are all that matter, and as long as they can get a reaction out of people, no matter how they have to do it, then it’s bound to happen.

However, during the pandemic, people have been scared enough without the news going on with everything else that’s helped to stir the pot. Not everything is their fault, at least not when it comes to instigating the problems. But allowing the anchors to do anything but report the news and what’s going on in the world? That’s where a huge problem comes into play, since reporting on the pandemic and the numbers infected and the numbers of those who have died are all well and good, people expect that. But adding in their own commentary and casting blame on people had nothing to do with the spread? That’s like blaming your neighbor for not warning you ahead of time when your house burns down, especially if you were standing in the damned thing while it was burning.

The long and short of it

No matter what the news is about, the riots of 2020, the pandemic, or how our current president is REALLY doing, not how the media wants to portray him. We, the people, want honesty. Pure and simple, across the board, no matter how horrible it might get, we’re tired of the lies and the falsehoods that are passed off as truth or as what we ‘need to know’. Honesty might not always be the best policy, but it’s what the people want. What we get is entirely different of course.