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Prime example: I opened up cnn.com which some people consider to be a news web site. The main headline is "Experts say grocery stores may need to keep customers
by choward 7y ago
Prime example: I opened up cnn.com which some people consider to be a news web site. The main headline is "Experts say grocery stores may need to keep customers out" (https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/19/business/grocery-stores-coronavirus-pickup-delivery/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/19/business/grocery-stores-coron...). The real story is that grocery store workers are dying but a title based on that isn't clickbaity enough. It has to make you think the article actually affects you so you click it. I probably wouldn't have clicked the link if it was about grocery store workers getting covid-19.
And of course their "experts" are just random people who said some things. And they mention that even if they do keep customers out they while still have pickup and possibly delivery. So who cares about that part of the story then? Apparently it's not going to affect me.
The media has done nothing to prevent panic buying and everything to encourage it with these click bait headlines. There is no reason stores should be running out of anything but PPE and other things where demand naturally shot up because covid-19 like PPE and disinfectant. Demand for toilet paper only went up because of the media (and government). The other thing the media has been doing is shaming people but I'm not going to go there.
- ta1771 7y agoIs this a CNN problem, or indicative of a society problem? (IMO: both.)
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- argomo 7y agoStores run out of toilet paper because we're no longer popping at work: https://marker.medium.com/what-everyones-getting-wrong-about-the-toilet-paper-shortage-c812e1358fe0 https://marker.medium.com/what-everyones-getting-wrong-about... The lockdowns have precipitated a huge shift in how we eat and what/where we purchase things. The supply chain is responding, but pivoting is expensive and groceries are a low margin business... the shortages could have been a lot worse. Going forward we may see shortages in imported foods/produce due to pandemic impacts in other countries and/or regulatory/logistics problems getting that food to market. I'm not saying that the media has been responsible, just don't discount the bigger picture of changes in consumer behaviour.
- choward 7y agoI'm not totally buying that for the initial surge. Stores were running out of toilet paper a week or two before any kind of orders were issued. All businesses were still open.
- gaius_baltar 7y agoStores were running out of toilet paper because people antecipated they would run out of toilet paper. Just a self-fulfilling prophecy.
- xeromal 7y agoI don't disagree that the media is causing a huge amount of problems but demand is actually up because most people are working/layed off at home and they're definitely using more supplies than they would if they were at work. And before you say companies are using less supplies, corporate supply chains and home supply chains are COMPLETELY different and often use different farmers/gatherers, etc.