This disconnect between what were hearing from the scientists and what the president of the United States said to the democrats to try to turn a virus into a political attack president trying today. Im sure from previous statements they should cleric a National Emergency 3 words hello richard gives birth in europe the listening post among the media stories that were covering this week donald trump dissin from ation and the coronavirus the white house and its sidekicks at fox news have been producing fake news of the most dangerous conflict felt the more i learn about this the less terrorist worry i was about the same thing china throws out more american journalists as the media battle between beijing and washington heats up and uprising in lebannon where protesters want to bring down the political establishment and that includes the news media and the biggest captive audience ever so many people in lockdown producing so many quality me. With the coronavirus grinding life to a halt around the world the millions holed up at home people are desperately searching for reliable information but what if 2 primary sources of news the government and the most watched Television News channel are setting aside medical science in favor of politically driven fiction thats what americans are dealing with for 3 years now President Trump has had the Fact Checkers working overtime but the stream of dissent from ation on covert 19 flowing from the white house has not only misled the public on the severity of the threat it has put lives at risk then theres fox news the channel politically aligned with donald trump its initial attempt to frame the pandemic as a hoax designed to take down the president has also been exposed as infection rates climb and the death toll mounts trump finds himself confronted with some facts scientific ones. That not even he can deny youll notice a slightly different look to the following piece skype interviews locked out style its part of the story our starting point this week is washington discusses mark. Our prediction about the coverage of the corona virus and the misinformation it was made about 3 weeks ago on americas most watched news channel economic and emotional and by misinformation is going to have as much harder and thats my research and found of all the networks to sound the alarm about colbert 19 and misinformation that sound bite was on fox news it definitely is quite ironic news has been a steady source of misinformation in. The provirus peddling the idea that its no big deal i feel like the more i learn about this the less there is a story i want about the same thing im so the irony is not lost that fox is calling against misinformation while spreading. It would be difficult to understate the fox news factor in americas misinformation problem fox has taken a similar approach to the way it covered other white house scandals like russia and the subsequent impeachment hearings downplaying the seriousness ukraine impeachment saga pouring hard to understand apparently goes on for attacking trumps critics as politically driven sham show and applied it to a Public Health emergency having so many people listen to one massive source for information its going to have that sort of ripples through people that you know are connected to their in proximity to are still going about their daily lives you know as if this is not happening. A number of posts and fox news that. Its not as serious as it actually is. The fox effect can be measured a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that fox news you. Or is our almost 5 times as likely as m s n b c viewers to believe that the media have greatly exaggerated the threat of the coronavirus given that fox is audience is the oldest of the Major Networks and therefore the most vulnerable the channels coverage is truly dangerous fox has moved on from initially playing the story down succumbing as the president has to reality coronavirus every virus as we have been telling you you must take it seriously but it took far too long the network hitched its wagon to donald trump long ago and its coverage has mirrored the president s shifting position on the coronavirus story media dot com monitors broadcast News Coverage in the u. S. It bolted together a chronology of Donald Trumps soundbites on covert 19 over a 6 week period as the number of cases in the u. S. Climbed alarmingly trumps message changed drastically how concerned they were we pretty much shut it down a lot of people think that goes away at a profit a couple of days is going to be down to close to 0 theres huge cheers it would spread its going to disappear one day its like america almost everybody that we see is Getting Better but it took me everybody to think that vaccines i think relatively so. They are not taking this seriously enough and that some of your statements dont match what your goal thats what youre saying that they really work it out. Like that things are going to happen no i dont take responsibility but its something that we have tremendous control of it still want to tell how would you rate your response to this crisis. Ive read it in. Just a few days ago he really started using words like pandemic he said its really bad he acknowledges out of control something years not one. Making him speak about it if it had been reports when the fox personalities. Own. I did start taking it seriously and we havent faced a medical crisis like this in living memory was talking to the president about how he did she change shes demeanor on his message on a trunk and his allies try and manipulate the rhetoric and shift blame but they cannot manipulate the virus with the misinformation and we do have a free press here in the United States that will continue to report out statistics of confirmed cases and rates and even though well be getting that information trump and right wing media will definitely continue to shift the blame its particularly dangerous to lie in a crisis like this or to get people to do what they dont want to do to get collective action out of a group of people that have different ideas of what should happen you need a strong central. Authority who people trust that has their best interests in mind by lying of course that element of trust. The Trump Administration had a trust issue with the governments own scientists although that too is changing in the early stages the white house was doing most of the briefings and dispatched its economic officials to calm the markets but the actual medical experts at the centers for Disease Control the c. D. C. Were initially sidelined anthony felt she who heads the National Institute of Infectious Disease is doing more public speaking now but as recently as march 1st when he had 5 different interviews set for the sunday morning talk shows the white house told him to stand down in favor of those fishnets like Vice President ial mike pence im very confident were ready the administration has been silence and scientific voices and the very start of its administration particularly in regards to Climate Change and environmental protections theyve been dismantling the scientific agencies particularly in this case trout had just now called the. Office that would have been of working on pandemic rest to be fair. The c. D. C. And a number of other executive Branch Agencies have a fairly long history of increasingly being reluctant to discuss things with the public or the press directly this was true during the Obama Administration as well journalists could no longer speak to officials from the c. D. C. Of course in the troubled history of this is gotten exponentially worse but it would be unfair to say that this was a trump innovation weve seen sort of a whole litany of. And. At and wise really from the administration that dont see the face of science and when it comes to Climate Change of course thats a huge issue thats sort of a long term Bigger Picture thing but right now the administrations antiscience talking points on the 19 were going to be going out immediately as people are going to get sick if they are listening to mr asian all in being elected to office and managing to stay there donald trump has proven that facts dont matter the way they used to that lies just dont stick to president s the way they wants to but the coronavirus story is difficult its about medical science 1st politics 2nd the facts are right there in the numbers the body counts and they are in contest could it be the Donald Trumps fake news narrative has finally been exposed met its match in something he has never had much time for science every word of this not just that had you know so much about maybe i have a natural ability maybe i should have done that instead of running for president would be nice to think that its meant as match once external reality hits it however im much more skeptical of the broader breakdown is that people are accepting that criticism even good faced criticism is a sign of anything that. There is you cannot take criticism without assuming that the critic is your opponent politically so in an ideal situation yes one would say that look this is reality we have to reject the lives but it is not preordained outcome that in fact lies me to fit the truth even when the truth is obvious this is a virus its not a Political Movement and it doesnt have an ideology and it doesnt care about your ideology it just has a way of attacking our our bodies. Lack of clarity he attempts to not really grapple with the threat that the whole world is facing cost us time and maybe it cost lives. Were discussing other media stories that are on our radar with one of our producers and actually rafi mena news broke this week that the Chinese Government is expelling at least 13 american journalists from the country lets start with who is getting deported richard these are journalists who have covered china for years people like amy chin and palmer sort of the New York Times the other newspapers whose journalists are being expelled are the Washington Post and the wall street journal now Chinas Foreign Ministry announced on tuesday that these journalists would have to turn in their press cards and have to leave in 10 days other media organizations such as Time Magazine and voice of america which is a u. S. Government funded outlet have been allowed to remain but must adhere to strict rules they have to provide in writing Key Information about their staff finances operations and real estate in china now theres been plenty of tension between washington and beijing over the covert 1000. 00 pandemic and its origins trump for instance has labeled it the chinese vitus but this battle over Media Outlets goes further than that this is just the latest in a long running tit for tat between the 2 countries involving one anothers journalists chinas latest move is a direct response to the trumpet ministrations decision last month to classify 5 Chinese State media organizations operating in the us as Foreign Missions theres also a big story coming out of pakistan the arrest of a media baron there now the pakistani media are often at odds with the authorities the country never does well in those global press rankings but still this arrest represents a Significant Development it does especially for those who hope that the election of imran khan in 2018 as Prime Minister would mean an improvement for pakistani journalists now the media owners are tested is near shock a lot of mine hes the c. E. O. And editor in chief of the junk group now the jungle stands largest private. Media organization it owns numerous newspapers and t. V. Stations including geo news one of the most popular all the language t. V. Stations in the world now one was arrested last week on charges relating to land he bought 34 years ago its an ongoing case hes been attending all the hearings so this arrest prompted protests from pakistani journalists who see it as nothing more than an attack on press freedom now weve reported before on how juniors has been a frequent target of the authorities for its Critical Coverage not just of the government but also the military jew news has repeatedly been taken off the air sometimes mid broadcast and some of their top journalists have accused the authorities of being behind attacks against them sometimes even on their lives of thanks alina. Were turning to lebanon now which is declared a coronavirus state of emergency this is in a country thats already 5 months into a series of antigovernment demonstrations the biggest since lebanon won its independence back in 1903 the protest movement bridges classes and sects citizens are revolting against a political system that is defined by sectarian identity and has failed to provide them with the economic basics its an ongoing story that has also revealed much about the failure of lebanons Media Outlets too many of which are skewing the very coverage since they are split along the same lines the politicians are were looking at one news site that said to change the media mix and mess with mainstream news narratives megaphone is an Online Platform that produces punchy social videos and boundary pushing Opinion Pieces critical takes on the news and the way its been covered the listening posts terek nothing now from beirut on a news outlet thats tapping into voices left out by the mainstream. Bring down somebody who works for the past 5 months has been the everything all the uprising that has taken leverage on to its political people have had enough of a dysfunctional power sharing system a broken economy and in that selfevident that im on trial which is good and not a good look were not going to be all of them which means doing away with the entire. Which include establishment media. Isnt that. Lemon a banana a substraction oh well they can. Feed. Stock the. Home. Run they were nonexistent and then suddenly they were to go to the go to use outta there. Yes i might not. Be in fallon. Even on the plane a soda bit by the way. They opened bells was a space for many of the thinkers and opinion leaders in lebanon make a fun weekend ya know what it is so typical. Megaphone and its not the only media outlet chronicling lebanons uprising but it is the most dynamic before the protests started in october 29th the collective was producing round true videos among the uprising demanded more megaphones mostly volunteer john many of whom work a day job. To keep up with the rhythm of the street. There were some publishing as many as 2 or 3 videos a day including an unedited snapshots from the street and street tool which amplifies voices of the uprising. And. The content of shock slickly produced and has occasional megaphones videography in the crosshairs of the authority of the. It is often barbaric we have people on our team who were physically attacked just because they were carrying a camera but i dont believe that these methods will silence any of our primary aim is to target a specific age group who no longer get their news from television or newspapers because they are disgusted by the rhetoric and also because the former is simply not appealing look im in a madam and this is. Not. The street surprised us and we were shocked at how politicized people became and how much they wanted to consume political content. And this forced us to address issues more responsibly and with output that is more critical than before. And then like i mentioned. We are trying to produce something that empowers people who were previously disconnected from politics to follow understand news developments and of course to react and eventually hold politicians accountable. Eventually. One of microphones my successful formats came from my frustration with politicians getting too much time and too little pushback from our. Speech deconstruction skewers politicians with their own words. The shams. Believe the omen are exposing for example the ways in which they have tried to plant fear about the protests when. Television gave these people the freedom to give speeches for as long as they want without giving anyone the opportunity to respond it was a popular format because it hasnt truly been done before in other media there is no need for the audience to watch politicians to our address they were able to understand the bottom line and at the same time deconstruct and challenge arguments being made by politicians and of argument or tactical. Critical journalism can be hard to come by in a country where politics business and media are well mainly a Family Affair just 12 found me most of which are directly involved in politics control close to 50 percent of the media the remaining 50 percent are run by Political Parties all the state in lebanon media of politics by other means but one channel has taken more flak for its coverage than any other c. B. Is the mouthpiece of present. Should our own and his party the Free Patriotic Movement the channel routinely depicts protesters who the prince of violence. Management would. Not clear what im. Getting get but also a part of the conspiracy of the opposition as part of a foreign funded plot look im not claiming that but if he does not have a point if you were guarding socalled evaluation actually no means is neutral i dont think theres no need to. C. V. The head of needs both of you to present a certain political view which is known from its name and from its political love belonging however it has