CNN’s Keilar: Woulda-Shoulda-Coulda COVID-19 Confrontation Journalism

One would think during times like these, professional news outlets would disseminate information helpful to the public and not use valuable airtime as a means to distribute partisan talking points, especially in fields where the presenter is woefully ignorant. One would think a media company that depends on the perspectives of those referred to a guests, would be treat appropriately those who receive and accept an invitation.

Yeah, right.

The latest example is Brianna Keilar, whose CNN bio boasts of her having “graduated Phi Beta Kappa with bachelor’s degrees in mass communications and psychology from the University of California, Berkeley”. Nothing related to anything concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, so during her interview with White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, she had to refer to notes while on the attack.

While it would be considered an obvious to refer to an organization the American people would have some familiarity with, Keilar referred to the nonprofit Society of Critical Care Medicine and she may have only discovered their existence from a couple of paragraphs from the New York Times….

The United States currently has between 160,000 and 200,000 ventilators, but as many as one million patients could need to use one of the machines over the course of the outbreak, according to the Society of Critical Care Medicine.
— New York Times, 3/25/20

You see where Kielar got that “one million ventilators” number; not out of any official call or need but from a blog post on a nonprofit website. Nonprofits need to project dire information that inspire donors to keep donating.

Aside from showing just how deep the media is digging to justify round-the-clock coverage, the sheer rudeness displayed by today’s so-called journalists is beyond frustrating, especially when compared to the media-fellacio the Obama administration received. The fact his administration jailed leak-receiving journalists is a mere side note.

The American people need information and the Trump Administration has made it a point to update the people on a daily basis. Some media organizations have chosen to forgo the live airing of the White House briefings so we have to rely on talent like Keilar for timely information.

A scary proposition, indeed.