Covid and the Media - cross post from GD

[defacto7]

I think most of us have finally come to the conclusion that the covid crisis is a crisis for our time that we cannot take for granted. That being said we don't have the luxury of wrong assumptions from half-truths put out by non-official sources. This disease is moving too fast and furious to find ourselves caught in mundane internet traps and money schemes. We have to pick our sources of information with utmost care.

I think we all know that the internet harbors some pretty Insidious actors who want to take advantage of our weaknesses. They try to play the public like a violin; first they take one side, milk it, then take the other and milk that while we sit in the middle wondering which is correct. In the worse case we may end up taking one side or the other when in fact there are no sides at all, there are only the facts and the statistics and those are the only things of value.

Trusted sources, fact based sources, first hand sources... in a time like this those are the holy grail and they're not that hard to find they're just not as entertaining. Good. Statistcal aggregates that state the numbers, stick to quotes by major health orgs and don't editorialize are good. Sites of major health organizations are great, World Health Organization, Johns Hopkins University, Mayo Clinic, and other universities directly related to epidemiology or virology work. Epidemiologists and Virologists from these institutions are the only things we can count on. (I removed the CDC from the good list due to administration tampering)

Sites that can, could, may take you on a ride through the world of fear for entertaiment and profit are sites that editorialize, share second or third hand info, sites with self proclaimed experts of dubious credentials, half quotes from experts, and sites with mass advertising, popups and click bate. Browse those at your own peril.

There are some major sites in the states that we we all know that deal in bias and editorialized info. Financial sites are biased toward financial concerns. Search engines are biased toward whoever pays for ads or whatever gets the most traffic. Be aware.

All I'm saying is beware who provides your info on something as important as the COVID-19 crisis. Unscrupulous actors don't hang around first hand statistics. First hand stats are as sure of a thing as we can get.

[liberalla]

1. Excellent. Thank you!

[defacto7]

2. Thank you.

It doesn't seem like it really matters to most here but I think it's very important. It's so easy for people to fall into that trap. They do it all the time, even here.