[2006alum]

Posted without comment, from Feb. 1, 2020:

YouTube Creators Cash In on Coronavirus Fears

Little-known YouTube accounts are trying to capitalize off fears about the coronavirus to gain viral clout—and for some, it’s paying off. Video creators are cranking out content that, in many cases, spreads alarm, unsubstantiated claims, scams, and sometimes outright disinformation. And a lot of them are trying to make money off of it. . . .

One popular series on the virus is produced by a personal finance guru with a history of pushing economic theories about peak oil and other resource crunches, but who has recently rebranded as a pandemic expert as news coverage of the virus has exploded.

“I’m here with a really important message about the coronavirus,” Chris Martenson, one of the founders of the financial website Peak Prosperity, says at the beginning of a video entitled “Coronavirus Is Worse Than You’ve Been Told: Scientist Explains.” ...

While Martenson calls himself a scientist in the video’s titles, his claim to the label is, according to him, based on a 1994 PhD from Duke’s Department of Pathology where he specialized in toxicology. While he published scientific research in the ’90s, for at least the last decade Martenson has focused on predicting stagflation and other large shifts in financial markets....

“He’s not a practicing physician, he’s just a guy with a science background who’s taken an interest in this virus,” said Dr. Angela Hewlett, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, who clarified that she didn’t see anything in Martenson’s videos that gave her cause for concern.

Adam Taggart, a co-founder of Peak Prosperity, initially explained the company’s mission to Mother Jones as “scientists making sense of the world.” When pressed on his scientific credentials, Taggart noted that he had an MBA but had studied pre-med as an undergraduate, and instead pointed to his colleague’s background.

[2006alum]

Posted without comment, from Feb. 1, 2020:

YouTube Creators Cash In on Coronavirus Fears

Little-known YouTube accounts are trying to capitalize off fears about the coronavirus to gain viral clout—and for some, it’s paying off. Video creators are cranking out content that, in many cases, spreads alarm, unsubstantiated claims, scams, and sometimes outright disinformation. And a lot of them are trying to make money off of it. . . .

One popular series on the virus is produced by a personal finance guru with a history of pushing economic theories about peak oil and other resource crunches, but who has recently rebranded as a pandemic expert as news coverage of the virus has exploded.

“I’m here with a really important message about the coronavirus,” Chris Martenson, one of the founders of the financial website Peak Prosperity, says at the beginning of a video entitled “Coronavirus Is Worse Than You’ve Been Told: Scientist Explains.” ...

While Martenson calls himself a scientist in the video’s titles, his claim to the label is, according to him, based on a 1994 PhD from Duke’s Department of Pathology where he specialized in toxicology. While he published scientific research in the ’90s, for at least the last decade Martenson has focused on predicting stagflation and other large shifts in financial markets....

“He’s not a practicing physician, he’s just a guy with a science background who’s taken an interest in this virus,” said Dr. Angela Hewlett, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, who clarified that she didn’t see anything in Martenson’s videos that gave her cause for concern.

Adam Taggart, a co-founder of Peak Prosperity, initially explained the company’s mission to Mother Jones as “scientists making sense of the world.” When pressed on his scientific credentials, Taggart noted that he had an MBA but had studied pre-med as an undergraduate, and instead pointed to his colleague’s background.