For months, CNN has been incessantly harping about the importance of socially distancing and wearing masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But journalists have conveniently dropped the nagging when it came to reporting on left-wing funded racial protests. But CNN’s not even denying their double standards, anymore.
After getting owned by Trump’s campaign manager Tim Murtaugh last night on Erin Burnett OutFront, CNN journalists tried to save face Thursday morning by justifying their hypocritical coverage of Trump rallies vs. Black Lives Matter protests. CNN Newsroom, co-host Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto asked CNN medical analyst, and former Planned Parenthood president Leana Wen to explain "her take" of why BLM protests are actually safer from coronavirus than Trump rallies. (The science knows!)
Wen argued most people wore masks at protests because they believed in the science, unlike Trump rallygoers, who "go in defiance." (So people protesting aren't going "in defiance" of COVID lockdowns, curfews and social distancing regulations?)
It does not care why it is that people are gathering but it does care about the conditions under which they're gathering, so outdoors much safer than indoors and wearing masks obviously much safer than not wearing masks and I would also in this case would distinguish between the behavior of the participants while at protests versus rallies. At protests many people are aware of the risks and doing everything they can to reduce that risk versus at many of the rallies we are seeing people going in defiance. It's their behavior during those events. I also worry about what they do after the events. They may not be self-quarantining and testing as then getting tested as they should be.
Sciutto then played dumb to ask Wen, have outdoor protests led to outbreaks like Trump rallies have? Wen happily confirmed the leading question, citing just one study from June. “[T]here have not been surges of infections that have been tied. There was a study looking at over 300 cities where protests have heard and they did not find surges of infections tied to the protests,” she noted.
Brianna Keilar touted this study on June 25th’s CNN Newsroom and it’s on CNN’s website but Sciutto pretended like it was new and updated information. Still, Sciutto thanked his guest for “breaking through the fog of confusion and disinformation to lead us back to the facts” to end the sanctimonious segment.
Even Wen’s points are contradicted by CNN’s own reporting. CNN has bashed outdoor church gatherings several times. Trump was holding outdoor rallies this Summer and yet CNN still smeared them super spreader events. They didn’t talk this way about the BLM protests.
In fact, just last week on September 11’s New Day, CNN political analyst David Gregory defended BLM protests in a pandemic because, he claimed, most people “wore masks” and understood how “important” it was.
What CNN correspondent Boris Sanchez said on August 28, reporting from the March on Washington was even worse. Despite tens of thousands of protesters packed tightly to listen to speakers, some without masks, Sanchez told Anderson Cooper that protesting was worth being exposed to the virus.
“The concern is with so many people in such an enclosed space, it may be impossible to avoid this virus. What I've heard, speaking to demonstrators, is essentially the message of social justice outweighs any of the risks from this pandemic. It’s that important to them,” he boasted. Many would argue going to church, getting married or burying a loved one is very important to them too, but CNN only shows contempt for those people.
Not once did CNN mention that Wen was the former president of the largest abortion mill in the country, which was spending 45 million dollars to support Democrats this year. Instead, CNN deliberately ignored that role to highlight her less notable titles. They have a bad reputation for hiding this important context from their viewers which certainly undermines Wen’s supposed neutrality as a medical expert.
Vicks and Humira paid for this pro-BLM and pro-Biden propaganda segment. You can contact them by following the links listed.
See the transcript below:
CNN Newsroom
9:00am EST
9/17/2020
HARLOW: You have a really interesting opinion piece out -- I believe this is The Washington Post. I read it last night and I want to ask you about it because we have had a number of partisans and even Jared Kushner from the White House talking to Wolf about this on Tuesday, the Trump campaign communication director Tim Murtaugh talking about the impact of the indoor rallies versus the outdoor protests for the Black Lives Matter movement. Listen to this from Mr. Murtaugh:
MURTAUGH: If people can protest in the streets by the tens of thousands, if people can riot if people can gamble in the casinos then certainly they can gather peacefully under the First Amendment to hear from the President of the United States.
HARLOW: I hear the casino point, but to the protests outside versus indoor rallies, what is your take?
LEANA WEN: I think it's important for us as public health experts to lead with the science. And the science tells us that this is a virus that does not discriminate. It does not care why it is that people are gathering but it does care about the conditions under which they're gathering, so outdoors much safer than indoors and wearing masks obviously much safer than not wearing masks and I would also in this case would distinguish between the behavior of the participants while at protests versus rallies. At protests many people are aware of the risks and doing everything they can to reduce that risk versus at many of the rallies we are seeing people going in defiance. It's their behavior during those events. I also worry about what they do after the events. They may not be self-quarantining and testing as then getting tested as they should be.
SCIUTTO: Dr. Wen, just very quickly, We have seen some data that shows that indoor events have led to the outbreak, whether it's a Trump rally or a wedding. We’re going to be talking about that later, a wedding in Maine? What has the data shown us about outdoor events? Have there been any super spreader events tied to protests?
WEN: Of course there are infections and outdoor protests with a lot of people still have risk of transmission and ideally should not happen in the middle of the pandemic either. But the -- but there have not been surges of infections that have been tied. There was a study looking at over 300 cities where protests have heard and they did not find surges of infections tied to the protests.
SCIUTTO: Understood. Dr. Leana Wen, thanks for breaking through the fog of confusion and disinformation to lead us back to the facts.
