Local reporters say they have encountered backlash in covering the surge. Many don’t want to hear the numbers are up and make their feelings known. (CNN Business, August 2, 2021)
Local news outlets are giving play to the opinions of notorious purveyors of Covid-19 information, most prominent Dr. Joseph Mercola, who peddles the falsehood that the vaccines are like gene therapy and useless. Scores of local newspapers and TV and radio stations have provide platforms for “experts’ with ridiculous claims that the vaccines wreck fertility or change human DNA. (The New York Times, August 1, 2021, by Sheera Frenkel and Tiffany Hsu)