Fake news hits the COVID vaccine front
There has always been a lot of discussion in journalism circles about making sure to give both sides of a story a fair shake. You know, to be objective. This has been the way modern journalism works.
Except it doesn’t always work. For instance: Let’s say the Nazis were planning a march down Main Street in your town (and before I go further, no offense to any Nazis in the reading audience. Anyway …).
Anyway, the Nazis are coming. And if your local reporter was going to make sure both sides of the story are presented, they “should” start with something like, “The Nazis are planning a rally down Main Street on Saturday, according to a press release. The event will take place from noon until 4 p.m. and feature plenty of Nazis marching, expressing their feelings on Jews, Gypsies, and others. The Nazi Party, founded by Adolf Hitler in …”
And so on.
Of course, that’s not how the story would be written. In fact, none of that stuff would be in there. The story would concentrate on the other side, the side — sorry Nazis — that don’t want the march downtown. I dare say the Nazi side of the story would be left unsaid.
And we don’t have a problem with that (unless, again, if you’re a Nazi).
Point being? We don’t always need both sides of the story, and journalists — my opinion — almost never have to give both sides of the story equal weight. (For more on this — without Nazis — go Google “Jay Rosen view from nowhere.”)
And right now, there is a story floating around that the media — present company included — has been twisting itself over to present both sides, even though one side is clearly right, and furthermore, that side is also one of the most non-controversial sides in America. You may have heard about it: It’s the COVID-19 vaccine.
According to data from CivicScience (full disclosure: I used to freelance there), 81% of American adults have either gotten the vaccine or plan to get it, and only 13% are for sure anti-vax. According to their data, that 13% is less than
the amount of people who don’t believe in God or own a smartphone.
To be very clear: As far as the American populace goes, the COVID vaccine is not a controversial issue. There aren’t two equal
sides, not even close.
But take a look at some of the big stories right now in New Jersey … RWJ Barnabus fired 118 people for refusing to take the vaccine … how 600 people showed up outside the Statehouse to protest vaccines for teachers and state workers … and on and on and on it goes. Nary a day goes by when somewhere in the national and/or New Jersey media we hear about vaccine controversy of one sort or another.
But the fact is there is no controversy. There is a very small minority of people who are truly anti-vax, and their opinion — which flies not only in the face of public sentiment, but also that rascally ne’er-do-well, science — is not worth all the ink being spilled on it.
I mean, when was the last time you saw a report or read an article about how the vast majority of Americans think the vaccine is just AOK? I can’t recall.
In the end, for me, this is another case of the media trying way too hard to remain objective. Americans overwhelmingly support the vaccine and everything that goes along with it, but you wouldn’t know that from watching the news.
See? Fake news cuts both ways. Learn something new everyday, don’tcha?