THE DAILY NEWSLETTER - FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2021 

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Mehdi Hasan

MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan went on a mini-rant against the slanted coverage of how many Americans are refusing to follow vaccine mandates, at the seeming expense of attention provided to just how successful Covid vaccine efforts have been thus far.

Hasan made the salient point that the media’s bias towards conflict and “if it bleeds, it leads” ethos has had a pernicious effect on vaccines by giving an unbalanced amount of coverage to the small minority of those who are refusing, and as a result, are “emboldening” anti-vaxxers.

“Fellow media people! It’s like we sent a man to the moon, and your front page says ‘Still Nobody on Mars!'” Hasan exclaimed.

Hasan mentioned situations where 99% of a company's staff had been vaccinated, but the headline focused on the 1%, sometimes even amplifying their reasons for not getting the shot.

“It’s not just annoying and inaccurate but amplifying the voices that defy vaccine mandates, you’re emboldening anti-vaxxers," Hasan declared. Well said. 

MEDIA LOSER:
Joe Rogan

Podcaster Joe Rogan continued with his embarrassing efforts to spread conspiracy theories about Covid-19 vaccines, suggesting on Thursday that President Joe Biden did not actually receive his third dose live on television, out of fears that he might die, black out, or faint.

Do you think that was a real booster?” Rogan asked his guest, former CIA officer Mike Baker, who said he thought it was "performance art," and possibly fake.

“I think if they were going to give him a booster shot, the last thing they would do is give it to him live on television,” Rogan replied. “What if he dies? What if he blacks out? What if he like gets it and faints? Like, because people have had very bad reactions like in the moment for whatever reason.”

"What if he dies?" Come on. At this point, the vaccines have been given to hundreds of millions of people, any potential side effects are extremely rare, and even those that do occur are mostly mild and temporary. No one is just suddenly dropping dead after a Covid-19 vaccine. They are, however, continuing to die from Covid, with the vast majority of deaths among the unvaccinated. 

The A-Block

How about a little good news?

It's been a long week for a lot of people, and a little good news is very much welcomed.

The Biden Administration and Democratic leadership have been putting in long hours negotiating several major bills. A deal was reached for a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown, and President Joe Biden signed the bill Thursday evening. This means the United States will not default on our debts, which would have devastating impacts on our economy and give the talking heads on cable news programs even more reasons to blame the other side.

There's still no deal on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, but White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki remained optimistic everyone would figure it out. 

Some good news in the battle against Covid-19: Merck is seeking FDA approval for a pill it says cuts the risk of death or hospitalization by half.

A reason for Marvel fans to smile: Scarlett Johansson and Disney have reached a settlement in the lawsuit she filed alleging that the simultaneous release of Black Widow in movie theaters and on streaming platforms was a violation of her contract. Both sides spoke positively about the settlement and plans to continue to work together on future projects.

And some schadenfreude: radical conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his outlet Infowars were found liable in two lawsuits filed by parents of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. In case you've blocked Jones' vile behavior out of your mind, he falsely claimed that the shooting, which claimed the lives of  more than two dozen young children and their teachers, was a hoax and "false flag" operation designed to inflate support for gun control. It was a nasty lie but it led to the victims' parents having to not just grieve their murdered children, but also deal with death threats and harassment from Jones' fans. 


In Other News...

SHOCK POLL: Majority of Trump Voters Now in Favor of Seceding from the Union

7 Most Bonkers Revelations About the Trump White House in Stephanie Grisham's Book: 'Clown Car On Fire...'

Fox’s Lara Logan Claims Covid Vaccine is ‘Not Really a Vaccine’

HALL: 'Calling Ozy Media a Dumpster Fire is an Insult to Dumpsters and Fires'

Must See Clip

A 'Big A** Angry Alligator'

Is this the greatest Florida Man video of all time? Maybe!

Eugene Bozzi went viral when a friend took a cell phone video of him capturing a feisty alligator armed with nothing more than a trashcan, some Adidas slides, and a lot of moxie. 

A follow up video showing Bozzi dragging the trashcan down a hill to release the gator unharmed into a nearby pond earned further kudos.

CNN's Chris Cuomo is among Bozzi's many fans, and he had a blast interviewing him Thursday night for a memorable and joyful chat. 

Watch and smile here.

Links We Like

People Have Been Panicking About New Media Since Before the Printing Press
- Robby Soave, Reason
Biden Could Have Taken the War on Drugs Down a Notch. He Didn’t.
- Beth Schwartzapfel, The Marshall Project
A Profession Is Not a Personality
- Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic
Why people who don’t trust vaccines are embracing unproven drugs
- Dylan Scott, Vox
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