Leading Thinkers Speculate On What A Post-Virus World Will Look Like
As it has always been, history will be written by the “victors” of the COVID-19 crisis. Every nation, and increasingly every individual, is experiencing the societal strain of this disease in new and powerful ways. Inevitably, those nations that persevere—both by virtue of their unique political and economic systems, as well as from a public health perspective—will claim success over those who experience a different, more devastating outcome. – Foreign Policy
“I would encourage anyone interested in understanding the Great Depression or mid-19th century Britain to turn to Steinbeck or Dickens,” says Joseph E. Stiglitz, whose book “People, Power, and Profits” will be out in paperback soon.
What’s the last great book you read?
“The In-Between World of Vikram Lall,” by M. G. Vassanji, in which a corrupt official now in hiding in Canada looks back on his life and the independence movement in Kenya. Particularly unforgettable are his memories of young love and the student movement in Dar es Salaam. The book was especially meaningful to me because of the time I spent working in Kenya between 1969 and 1971.
Patricia Azarias often referred to her Professor at Oxford, the famous Isaiah Berlin, who wrote an essay, the fox knows many things; the hedgehog knows one thing
Patricia Azarias often referred to her Professor at Oxford, the famous Isaiah Berlin, who wrote an essay, the fox knows many things; the hedgehog knows one thing
The Reality Behind Isaiah Berlin's Fox-and-Hedgehog Essay ...
MIT Press preprint of new Joshua Gans book on Covid-19, open for public comment.
What will the restart process be like?
With the world distracted, China intimidates Taiwan. Chinese warships and fighter jets are testing Taiwan’s defences
With the world distracted, China intimidates Taiwan. Chinese warships and fighter jets are testing Taiwan’s defences
Almost one year ago to the day, I put out my list of the best
25 movies about journalism. If you haven't read it, check it out. Most have
seen the ones at the top of the list — “All the President’s Men,” “Broadcast
News” and “Spotlight” — so tried to find one that maybe you haven’t seen. I
recommend “His Girl Friday,” on Amazon Prime, or “Kill the Messenger” on
Netflix. “Kill the Messenger” is based on San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary
Webb and his series about CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking.
If you do have Netflix, how about a documentary? USA Today’s Nate
Scott has his list of the 28
best documentaries out right now on Netflix. You could go light (“Bill
Murray Stories” from 2018) or inspirational (“Crip Camp,” about a summer camp
developed for kids with disabilities) or serious (“LA 92,” about the L.A.
riots) or just plain out there (“Jim & Andy” about Jim Carrey portraying
Andy Kaufman). If you have Disney+, go right now and watch the phenomenal “Free
Solo,” about the truly unbelievable and frightening attempt by Alex Honnold to
scale Yosemite’s El Capitan (a 900-meter vertical rock face) without the aid of
any climbing equipment. It is breathtaking.
Or, if you’re looking for a podcast escape while you’re doing
chores this weekend, here are a few recommendations, including some from
Poynter Report readers.
First, those who read this newsletter regularly know I’m a big
Bill Simmons fan. His Ringer network has a slew of podcasts, but the original —
“The
Bill Simmons Podcast” — is a sports/pop culture podcast that is top-notch.
A special
recent episode featured Simmons interviewing Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and
Jeff Ament. Simmons and The Ringer’s podcast network also include pods on the
media (“The
Press Box”), TV and video (“Binge
Mode”) and the most entertaining deep dive on older movies called “The
Rewatchables.” (Check out the ones on “The Breakfast Club,” “Fatal
Attraction” and any of the ones where Simmons is joined by special guest,
director Quentin Tarantino.)
I’m also a regular listener of “WTF
with Marc Maron,” where the comedian and actor has offbeat interviews with
celebrities. For fans of the late John Prine, Maron reposted his
2016 interview with Prine.
Finally, here are some fun and light suggestions from readers.
“That
Week in SNL,” which looks back at old episodes of “Saturday Night Live.” A
comedy podcast called
“Riggle’s Picks with Rob Riggle and Sarah Tiana.” “How
Did This Get Made?” a hilarious pod about movies so bad that they're almost
good. And, if you’re a fan of all things 1980s, check out Steve Spears’ “Stuck
in the 80s.”
And, finally, my new favorite podcast: “Everything
is Alive,” an unscripted interview show in which, get this, all the
subjects are inanimate objects. Wickedly smart and funny.
Want music? Roots’ drummer Questlove hosts a weekly pod called “Questlove
Supreme,” which is a mixture of interviews, pop culture and, of course,
music. You also might like NPR’s “Sound
Opinions” — a recent episode on Joni Mitchell’s album “Blue” is
outstanding.
Just as a warning, some of the podcasts above have R-rated
language.
Anyw
ay, hope that helps you get through the weekend. Stay safe
out there.
Now on (and back) to
today’s media world …
Talk about quid pro quo
CNN’s
Oliver Darcy reported that the office of Vice President Mike Pence had kept
the health experts from the White House coronavirus task force from appearing
on CNN in an attempt to get CNN to carry the White House daily press briefings
in their entirety. CNN, and pretty much every other network except Fox News and
C-SPAN, often cuts away during portions of the daily press conferences. Only
after Darcy wrote about it did the White House reverse course later in the day
Thursday.
That meant that three of the nation’s leading experts — Dr.
Anthony Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx and Surgeon General Jerome Adams — were kept
off CNN for more than a week. Darcy reported that a spokesperson for Pence
— the vice president is technically in charge of the coronavirus task
force — said, “When you guys cover the briefings with the health officials
then you can expect them back on your air.”
But it might have been that the White House had it in for CNN.
After all, Fauci, Birx and Adams have continued to appear on the major
networks, even though the major networks have either carried portions of the
news conferences or not aired them at all.
Darcy wrote, “After Trump leaves the podium, CNN frequently cuts
out of the White House briefing to discuss and fact-check
what the President had said. A CNN executive said that the network usually
returns to such programming because of the extensive length of the full
briefing that includes Pence, which can run in excess of two hours.”
Darcy also reported that Trump has turned down repeated requests
by CNN to be interviewed during this pandemic. Trump has, however, appeared on
Fox News for one-on-one interviews, including earlier this week when he called
into Sean Hannity’s show.
But then things changed after Darcy’s original story ran on
CNN.com. Darcy tweeted Thursday evening, “Pence’s office has now reversed their
position. After this story was published, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield was
booked for CNN's Thursday night coronavirus town hall. Dr. Fauci was also
booked for Friday on ‘New Day.’”
Those daily press conferences
President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus at the White House earlier this week. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
So here we are again, talking about the controversy of the daily
White House press conferences. They often turn combative and dreadfully long —
usually more than an hour-and-a-half. One even went well over two hours.
On one hand, it feels wrong to complain about getting daily
updates, but there does seem to be a sense that they are becoming less
productive. Some days, it might be just preferable to have Trump sit out the
briefing, and allow it to be run by Pence and/or a few of the health experts.
In fact, there was a while when The New York Times was running
the news conferences on its website, but it has since stopped.
Elisabeth Bumiller, the Times’ Washington bureau chief, told
Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple, “We stopped doing that because
they were like campaign rallies. The health experts often have interesting
information, so we’re very interested in that, but the president himself often
does not.”
It’s hard to see Trump taking a step back.
A Wall
Street Journal editorial said, “The briefings began as a good idea to
educate the public about the dangers of the virus. … But sometime in the last
three weeks Mr. Trump seems to have concluded that the briefings could be a
showcase for him.”
The editorial didn’t sit well with Trump, who tweeted:
“The Wall Street Journal always ‘forgets’ to mention that the ratings for the
White House Press Briefings are ‘through the roof” (Monday Night Football,
Bachelor Finale, according to @nytimes) & is only way for me to escape the
Fake News & get my views across. WSJ is Fake News!”
How do you take your news?
A
new Knight Foundation/Gallup poll shows, not surprisingly, how political
persuasion and news consumption habits impact how Americans are viewing the
coronavirus.
The poll shows that those with a conservative-news diet — Fox
News, for example — are more likely to (wrongly) believe that coronavirus is
less deadly at the seasonal flu. About 57% believe that. Those news consumers
also believe the media is giving too much attention to the virus (71%) and that
President Trump is doing a good job handling the coronavirus (94%).
Meanwhile, those who consume what is considered a liberal media
diet — MSNBC and others — think the opposite: 28% believe the seasonal flu is
more deadly than the coronavirus, 28% believe the media is paying too much
attention to it and 11% think Trump is doing a good job.
On assignment
(Courtesy: NBC News)
MSNBC’s “On Assignment with Richard Engel” returns Sunday at 9
p.m. Eastern with its second coronavirus-focused episode. Engel reports on the
outbreak in Wuhan, China, and looks at hotspots such as Bergamo, Italy, and New
York City. The show also includes an interview with Nobel-winning economist
Joseph Stiglitz.
Looking ahead
(Courtesy: The New York Times)
The opinion section of The New York Times is starting a new
project called “The
America We Need.” It’s a multi-month package that looks at how the United
States can come out of the coronavirus crisis with more resiliency, as well as
with a more just society. The opening essay by the Times’ editorial board
writes that the U.S. has a history of becoming stronger out of some of our
worst moments.
The entire project was in the works even before the coronavirus.
Well, sort of. Times’ editorial page editor James
Bennet explained in an introductory letter that the board planned to have a
series on inequality.
“And then history lurched,” Bennet wrote. “The spread of the
coronavirus scrambled our plans, along with those of the rest of the world. It
cast a searing light on the ideas we were debating among ourselves. Yes, the
pandemic reminded Americans that they were all still bound together. But it
also began revealing, day by day, how dangerously far apart they’d become.”
Ultimately, Bennet wrote, the “Times Opinion will be arguing its
way toward a set of proposals for how American society can eventually emerge
from this crucible stronger, fairer and more free.”
The good stuff
NBA star Steph Curry. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
This is my favorite
story of the day. Shelby Delaney is a nurse in an ICU in Oakland and draws
strength from wearing, under her scrubs, the jersey of her favorite NBA player
— Golden State’s Steph Curry. The star player learned about it and had an
inspirational and heartfelt FaceTime conversation with Delaney and the rest of
the ICU staff, thanking them for the work they are doing.
Hot type
- A day after Kobe Bryant died, Philadelphia Inquirer sports columnist Mike Sielski got an email with a short video from Kobe’s first high school basketball game. But there also was something else in the video that led to a haunting memory and this terrific column by Sielski.
- A tough read, but an important one. New York Times’ reporters Annie Correal and Andrew Jacobs with photographs by Ryan Christopher Jones: “A Tragedy is Unfolding: Inside New York’s Virus Epicenter.”
- Southern California radio station KPCC reached out to a bunch of people, asking them to help spread the word about social distancing. Award-winning musician Randy Newman went above and beyond. He wrote a song. Poynter’s Kristen Hare has the details.
- To start today’s newsletter, I included several fun podcasts to listen to. But I’ll end it with a serious one: NBC News’ “Into America,” in which host Trymaine Lee talks about the rapid rise of COVID-19 through the prison system and the fear and stress it is causing prisoners.