[Mick]

There's an alternate universe out there that features "Make America Great Again", stylized US flags, and "Don't tread on me" masks.  Who says irony is dead?

BC

It's not all that alternative. 

I'm so cynical about the media that I'm pretty well convinced that if Trump had (improbably, but not impossibly) come down on the side of social distancing, the New York Times would be running a series of op-eds commenting gravely on the damage to the economy, doing interviews on the plight of the unemployed, etc.

My cynicism about the media has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with my actual experiences with the media since my first interview in 1982.  Most of the time, in my experience there is more than a grain of truth but less than full candor and honesty in the articles in which I've been personally involved.  I've run or supervised media relations for three decades, exclusively with business and legal reporters.  Most of the time, they're directionally correct.  Frequently, they are biased and one-sided, and that's with evaluating issues that can be assessed through empirical data.  That doesn't even count the fact that if you're selecting what's included in a publication, you're exerting control over the story.  I can only imagine how bad it is in the political sphere.

[Mick]

There's an alternate universe out there that features "Make America Great Again", stylized US flags, and "Don't tread on me" masks.  Who says irony is dead?

BC

It's not all that alternative. 

I'm so cynical about the media that I'm pretty well convinced that if Trump had (improbably, but not impossibly) come down on the side of social distancing, the New York Times would be running a series of op-eds commenting gravely on the damage to the economy, doing interviews on the plight of the unemployed, etc.

My cynicism about the media has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with my actual experiences with the media since my first interview in 1982.  Most of the time, in my experience there is more than a grain of truth but less than full candor and honesty in the articles in which I've been personally involved.  I've run or supervised media relations for three decades, exclusively with business and legal reporters.  Most of the time, they're directionally correct.  Frequently, they are biased and one-sided, and that's with evaluating issues that can be assessed through empirical data.  That doesn't even count the fact that if you're selecting what's included in a publication, you're exerting control over the story.  I can only imagine how bad it is in the political sphere.