Day: May 3, 2020

Media Washes Hands of—and With—Boris Johnson

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3 May 2020 — FAIR

Guardian: Boris Johnson is the wrong man in the wrong job at the wrong time

Guardian (4/20/20)

As the UK quickly becomes a world leader in death and infections from the Covid-19 pandemic, corporate media are transforming British Prime Minister Boris Johnson into an international Coronavirus bugaboo.

His handling of the pandemic certainly qualifies him for this status. Not only was he the first world leader to tout, then abandon, the discredited, neo-Malthusian “herd immunity” approach, based on the idea that countries should avoid lockdowns and let the virus burn its course, which has now become a rallying cry to the international far right, his own lax attitude towards social distancing nearly killed him two weeks ago as he ended up on oxygen in an NHS intensive care unit.

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The Inevitable Coronavirus Censorship Crisis is Here

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3 May 2020 — Matt Taibbi

As the Covid-19 crisis progresses, censorship programs advance, amid calls for China-style control of the Internet

Matt Taibbi

Earlier this week, Atlantic magazine – fast becoming the favored media outlet for self-styled intellectual elites of the Aspen Institute type – ran an in-depth article of the problems free speech pose to American society in the coronavirus era. The headline:

Internet Speech Will Never Go Back to Normal

In the debate over freedom versus control of the global network, China was largely correct, and the U.S. was wrong.

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REVIEW: Planet of the Humans Michael Moore produced documentary on The Green New Deal lands the occasional hit, but pulls too many punches

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3 May 2020 — Off Guardian

John Steppling

Michael Moore is estimated to be worth 50 million dollars. He is a wealthy man. His political support is for the Democratic Party. He has stumped for Alexandria Ocasio Cortez in New York and for Rashida Tlaib in Michigan (does one need to say more?). Moore is essentially a brand.

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