Media thrives off of new and interesting information, but over the past year the headlines have often remained the same.
Countless citizens desire new and diverse stories instead of hearing about each update in the COVID-19 statistics. As a result of the lack of coverage in the media surrounding anything other than the pandemic, many people have neglected their habit of watching the news.
The media has been actively trying to make COVID-19 the number one issue in our lives. However, some do not find this to be the most important thing. The repetition of the virus being a “global pandemic” is misleading compared to the other prominent issues surrounding our country and the world.
Throughout the world, especially developing countries, problems run far deeper than the coronavirus. People in refugee camps, which are home to far worse diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria, are unconcerned as to the whereabouts of the pandemic. Most people actively serving in the military do not feel a necessity to worry about the virus either.
Former PV graduate Morgan McCartney relates her concerns. “While COVID-19 is an important problem, it is not the only problem. We have a vaccine now and more people are surviving, so it is time to move on and focus on more important issues in our country,” she said.
Other issues should not be disregarded for the sake of COVID-19 updates. While some Americans care to hear the specifics of one virus, many would rather move on to hearing about other national or international problems which they would usually rely on the news for.
Furthermore, those who do not feel as concerned with their own health relating to the virus are forced to take in the information as if it should be their most important thing. Among all Americans the survival rate is 98.2%, and with no underlying health conditions this becomes even greater. However, because of the news’ constant drive to portray the danger of the virus, many young people are growing more concerned about their own safety.
Senior Sam McGrath expressed his doubts regarding the intentions the media may have in its outsourcing of coronavirus information. “I would say it’s the lack of science in some scenarios and then the enforcement of science in other[s] that has really broken my trust in the media. They only use stats if it supports their narrative,” he said.
Some of the information which the news provides gives a false image of COVID-19. They have claimed that America is doing far worse in terms of case numbers and death rates in comparison to other countries, without relating to Americans that many other factors go into calculations that could explain the vast differences in the stats.
The US has a more advanced medical system, and is therefore testing more people with better accuracy, revealing a higher number of positive cases. However, looking at the amount of cases found compared to the population in our country, many will notice that the US’ data aligns with other, less populated countries.
Without the news relaying this to its viewers, people are left with the mere facts which by themselves do not tell the full story.
McGrath noticed the media’s attempts to change the story on vaccinations, and touched on his perspective surrounding his observations. “I think the media coverage on the vaccine has been absolutely insane. Our media allowed the Biden admin to state that they walked in on nothing,” he detailed.
The news media has been known to be unreliable on several occasions, and they continue to report on the same story. As a result, this has made it difficult for many Americans to view the news with an open mindset. This also creates a lack of willingness to show sympathy towards a virus which has been over-intensified for the past year, thus creating a sense of distrust and disliking towards the media.
