Reporter Kevin Vesey recently took a woeful walk down a New York sidewalk, flanked by protestors demanding the country open back up.
A camera captured it all, and I must say, it was quite ugly.
To put it mildly, the Long Island News12 man wasn’t welcomed as an ambassador of truth by the Commack crowd.
He was leveled by a load of less-than-lovely labels, such as “disgusting,” “hack,” and “fake news.”
Among the worst hurled: “You’re the virus.”
But it wasn’t all bad — one guy gave him the Thumbs-up.
Nevermind — that was a finger.
Also on display: a bevy of signs.
Among them:
“Coronavirus is Not Going Away But Our Incomes Have”
“Small Business is Essential”
“Make NY Great Again — #RecallCuomo”
“I Fought for Your Freedom in the Air Force. Why aren’t You Fighting Back?”
“My Constitutional Rights Are Essential!”
You get the idea.
Of course, the video is only anecdotal evidence, but I believe it’s not an altogether misleading example of a growing attitude among frustrated Americans.
People need — not want — to get back to work. They need to pay their mortgages. They need to feed themselves and their kids.
And as we all struggle in this together, some view the media as complicit in serving up a narrative that’s perpetuating the lockdown.
Check out the video, and let me know what you think. But beware: It contains some language they didn’t use in Bambi.
The level of anger directed at the media from these protestors was alarming. As always, I will tell a fair and unbiased story today. pic.twitter.com/5jCR0YY9VH
— Kevin Vesey (@KevinVesey) May 14, 2020
It’s no surprise the folks in the video appear as Trump supporters, and we all know the gang ain’t big on TV’s talking heads.
Additionally, the notion of the press making things worse amid our COVID-riddled reality isn’t exactly new — as I covered in April, Dr. Drew had a thing or two to say about this pandemic’s janky journalism:
“I’m remembering now back in the very beginning, what got me sort of mobilized. I was sitting in a local Fox affiliate in New York City, and there was a reporter in Italy going, ‘We have a staggering number of cases! Staggering! We have seven thousand cases!’ And I thought…’You need to shut up.’ Because this is going to go way higher. What are we going to call a million? … Look — we have 24 million flu cases in this country every year. … So shut up, ’cause you’re only going to panic people. And they ensued, and are continuing to spin this thing in ways I think are disturbing.”
But the tweeted clip, to me, is a broader illustration of what’s happened with the mainstream media. Compare 2020 to, say, the 1970’s. People have lost their faith.
Gone are the black and white reports of yesteryear which delivered the facts of the matter. These days, we see political campaigns waged by those behind news desks.
And it’s a sad state of things.
I can’t imagine a return to the way things were, but I’d love to see it.
People don’t trust the news.
Aside from the corona virus, how do we cure that one?
Is it possible? I look forward to your responses.
-ALEX
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