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  • Writer's pictureJEMPJ Team

Dr. Birx, the White House, and Fox News

Hey,


this week it is my turn to analyze an article and this week happened a lot. This analysis will be a little different than the ones before.

I´ll focus on a report published on Fox News on April 25, 2020, which focuses on a talk show interview of Dr. Deborah Birx, who is the coronavirus response coordinator of the White House corona task force. Dr. Birx was interviewed about the last COVID-19 briefing Trump gave last Thursday (April 23, 2020). 

So we focus now on an article about a talk show that treats the latest White House briefing. This chain of news could have already warped some information, so let's see what we find. First of all, we should have a closer look at these different mediums the information surpassed. The briefing took place on April 24, and he said "[…] I [Trump] see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or, or almost a cleaning?”

He talked about treating COVID-19 with disinfectant for surfaces etc by injecting it in the human body.

This is the critical phrase all the trouble is about. It was of course immediately denied by several doctors and physicians, but Trump´s coronavirus response coordinator didn’t interrupt him stating this scientifically clearly wrong idea nor did she clarify it afterwards.

 In the following press conference, many journalists questioned his approach and the argument continued on twitter between the president and the so-called fake news. 

After the briefing and the press conference, the US broadcast channel Fox News interviewed the previously mentioned coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Brix in the talk show “Watters´ World”. She explained that the suggestion of treating COVID-19 with disinfectant by injecting it to the human body was just a thought the president had to think it all through. 

So after Fox News aired a show where Dr Brix defended Trump's statement, the news agency also published an article about the show, quoting what Brix said. 

 “The president has since said he was being “sarcastic” when he seemingly suggested that household disinfectants could be used as a treatment for the novel coronavirus. Regardless, the comments prompted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to warn Americans not to “ingest disinfectant products."

This is the only piece of information the authors provide regarding the true content behind Trump's statement.The urge to clear Trump´s suggestions emerged just because of the argument on Twitter, where the briefing was discussed afterwards.

Fox News as a news network has the responsibility to identify false information and make fallacies like this one transparent for the readers. Instead of clear writing that the president´s idea is from a scientific perspective dangerous, the authors of this article just reports on what Brix said in the talk show. No questions, no criticism, poor clarification and just with a reference to the EPA. No investigations on how disinfectant could harm a human body.

This is one example of why reading just one newspaper with a certain political attitude does not provide you with actual insight and real information. 


Written by: JO


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