Brian Stelter’s newsletter catches us up on the other crisis in America.
In his address to the nation Thursday evening, President-elect Biden said about the coronavirus pandemic, “The crisis of deep human suffering is in plain sight.” But here’s a question worth asking: Is it, truly, in plain sight?
The political and national security crisis triggered by domestic terrorism at the US Capitol, and the ensuing impeachment of President Trump, has unquestionably overshadowed the public health crisis. And yet the suffering is still very real and the situation has never been more dire. Earlier this week, the US set another single-day death record when 4,462 people died in one day, according to Johns Hopkins data. Each day brings north of 200,000 new cases. And the total US death toll is approaching 400,000 — a number the country will likely surpass before Inauguration Day.
But you wouldn’t necessarily know that by scanning the front pages of newspapers or the homepages of major news websites this week. I noticed, for instance, that The New York Times and The Washington Post only had one reference each to the virus on their Thursday front pages. When scanning CNN.com earlier this afternoon, there were no coronavirus stories in the top half of the website. And even when outlets are making time or room for the coronavirus, most stories center around the vaccines, not the deaths and economic crisis.
No doubt, journalists are doing their very best to juggle all of these stories. But as we cover DC politics and the fallout from last week’s attack, we should not forget that thousands of Americans continue to lose their lives each day to this ruthless virus. And while the vaccine rollout is gradually improving, the situation right now is, frankly, very alarming and urgent…
East coast bias
Much of the suffering happening right now is coming from the West Coast. In Los Angeles County, one person is dying of Covid-19 every six minutes, according to Hopkins data. Hospitals are struggling. As someone who hails from the Pacific-facing side of our country, but now lives in NY, I can attest to the fact that the East Coast gets special treatment from national news outlets. If it storms in New York or one of our neighboring cities, the whole world knows about it. But the West Coast, far from the biggest newsrooms, doesn’t get that special treatment.
And I’d argue that bias is having a noticeable effect on how the crisis unfolding in L.A. is being covered. When was the last time you saw a national news outlet carry a press conference from a California official on the virus, for example? Compare that to how often Bill de Blasio and Andrew Cuomo were on TV when NY experienced its surge.
Don’t take my word for it – take Sara Sidner’s. The L.A.-based CNN correspondent, who was overcome with emotion during a live shot on “New Day” Tuesday morning, joined Brian Stelter on this week’s “Reliable Sources” podcast. She matter-of-factly said that “there is a bias” and it’s readily apparent now that she lives on the West Coast…
“It looked like a war zone inside”
Sidner told Stelter about recent visits to hospitals that look like war zones. “There are people everywhere,” she said – “people with real emergencies that need an ICU bed are in the emergency room hallways. That’s how little room there is.”
“And to see the doctors and nurses running from person to person,” she said, “it was terrifying, because when you live and work in a community, you are a part of the community. And I was thinking to myself, if I got into an accident right now, or if a friend of mine got into an accident, or a complete stranger, just a fellow American got into an accident — right now, this is where they’re going to be treated: in the hallways, because the Covid patients need to be separated out. That’s insane in the most wealthy nation on Earth. What are we doing?”
Sidner also said that she felt “exposed and embarrassed” when her rage turned into tears on live TV. It is what “we’re taught not to do,” she said. But her human reaction helped draw newfound attention to the Covid-19 crisis, Stelter pointed out. “If it did something to help,” she said, “then I’ll embarrass myself every single day, all day long.”
As someone who lives in LA and was told yesterday that they estimate 1 in 3 people have Covid in this county, it’s a little bit stunning that this isn’t much of a story in the national press. I know it’s hard. There is a LOT going on. But it is really bad here as well as other states, of course, and I feel as if it’s just another “regional” filler story. I know for a fact that if there was a train derailment in the Acela corridor they would find time to tell it in great detail for days on end…
Anyway, enough whining. It is what it is. And the media talking about it isn’t going to change anything anyway. We’ll just have to hunker down and get through it. I’m one of the lucky ones who works from home so I can isolate myself from other people. It’s the poor essential workers who are forced to be out there every day, many of whom live in crowded, multi-generational housing, who are paying the biggest price. It’s just awful.