6 ms·

Why Is All Covid-19 News Bad News?

41 points by undefined1 5y ago

rossdavidh 5y ago
TL;DR - because that's what they think we want to hear. They do a little bit of comparison to past news, but it would be interesting to see a comparison to post-9/11 coverage of terrorism in particular, since 9/11 was the most recent event with emotional impact on the same level.
aurizon 5y ago
There is a steady stream of anti-vaccine fake news - all designed to look plausible. People with an education in biotech detacts this, the common person weighs it as a bit of valid news = seeds of doubt are sown. check microbe.tv for the real goods.
- lettergram 5y ago
  As someone with a degree in bioengineering, I can tell you - yes there are a lot of plausibly fake items. HOWEVER, almost all COVID19 information is from non-peer reviewed sources and governments / corporations who have already shown a willingness to mislead. Furthermore, the PCR protocols that were being used initially have been retracted and modified (even though all our tests & vaccination methodology was based off the original protocols). Moreover, all criticism (including valid counter points) is being suppressed if not outright banned. I think it's fair to say, there's a large incentive to play up the fear (CNN has said as much https://www.projectveritas.com/news/part-2-cnn-director-charlie-chester-reveals-how-network-practices/ https://www.projectveritas.com/news/part-2-cnn-director-char...). It further plays into the political agendas and makes corporations more money. EDIT: WOAH I was down voted the instant I clicked submit. @dang, this seems a bit odd?
  - dang 5y ago
    You weren't downvoted the instant you clicked submit, and the users who downvoted you are definitely legit. Obviously this was a provocative comment to put it mildly. The site guidelines ask you not to go on about downvotes (and also not to post insinuations about manipulation). https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- jjgreen 5y ago
  I have to say, I think that vaccine advocates are making a tactical mistake by characterising those who do not like or do not want the vaccine (and say so) as "fake news", "designed to look plausible", and so on. They have a different view to you and people can have differing views without either of them having hidden agendas, being evil etc. Before you ask, I'm keen on vaccines (and have had AZ), but I'm an old git, it makes sense for me. Younger people could make a valid different choice, and others would be wise to respect that choice.
  - aurizon 5y ago
    That is the tyranny of the uninformed manifesting. In technicall matters the vote of uninformed people lacks validity to change affairs. The human immune system(s) - yes, we have a number of them. The innate system which evolution has fine tuned to protect us, and the adaptive (learns to defeat a pathogen). These are not voted on by an animal's free will. They are entirely automatic, as animals and man in the past had zero comprehension of what occurs behind the scenes. People have the unwise right to refuse vaccination - perhaps to their detriment or death. (try to keep living after you get bitten by an infectious rabid animal and see what happens). This brings to center stage the true merits of the anti-vaxxers. Get enough doubters and many controlled viruses will lose their 'herd immunity' at which point we well get sweeping waves of infection of many of these 'defeated' viruses. This is OK, of you feel mankind has overpopulated the earth - the added deaths will reduce the degree of overpopulation. I for one want measles to be eliminated and stay dead. Many orthdox Jewish communities seem to want measles to be an ongoing scourge of man. What about smallpox = 35% death rate. The plague - about the same. Polio? I am old enough to recall the huge rooms full of people doomed to live the rest of their lives encased in an artificial lung. So, no, I will not respect that choice = no respect at all - they can do it if they like, but if they choose to let their kids get those illnesses deliberately, then they need to be forced to buy disease specific health insurance, and remove that burden from my health care pool.
postalrat 5y ago
Because apparently people are too dumb to think for themselves.
- andybak 5y ago
  It's very hard to glean your point from this off-hand statement. I can imagine a very wide range of things you're trying to communicate but unless I delve into your post history then I'm simply guessing.
  - postalrat 5y ago
    Many of them can be true at the same time.
lettergram 5y ago
CNN Technical director told us as much - Money & power. https://www.projectveritas.com/news/part-2-cnn-director-charlie-chester-reveals-how-network-practices/ https://www.projectveritas.com/news/part-2-cnn-director-char...
- mikeyouse 5y ago
  Just to be clear .. a technical director has approximately 0 to say about programming decisions. They deal with sound / lighting / computing equipment.
  - lettergram 5y ago
    Indeed, but they can definitely provide insight as to what's going on on set.
  - throwaway4china 5y ago
    I wouldn't say zero. He works there, he gets the feel there. You have to wonder why did he said all of those specific things. Do you think he made them all up on the spot? Those things he said line up with their programming (the death toll counters, etc.).
    - WalterBright 5y ago
      CNN's 24/7 death clock seems to have disappeared when Biden was inaugurated. It's almost as if .... :-)
      - mikeyouse 5y ago
        It's wild to me that people think there was some big anti-Trump effort with Covid news -- there were 3,300 people per day dying of the disease in January, now there are 1/4th - 1/5th as many. Maybe, just maybe, that's why the news has changed focus?
        WalterBright 5y ago
tedunangst 5y ago
This paper is dated November 2020, but I don't think anything has changed. In the past 48 hours, the local paper ran a story about everybody needing a third booster shot, a story about all the things it's still not safe to do if you're fully vaccinated, and finally a story that the city was immediately moving to full general eligibility because vaccine providers couldn't fill appointments. Nowhere did they provide links to any of the providers with open slots. You had to work that out for yourself.
- CyberRabbi 5y ago
  Why is a third booster shot bad news? That seems like neutral news and possibly even good news since it means we have a solution to the problem. Edit: if you’re going to downvote this comment that’s fine but could you do me the courtesy of explaining why? I don’t understand what the flaw is in my reasoning and I am curious to understand it.
  - tedunangst 5y ago
    "Why should I get this shot instead of waiting for the one that works?" Do I really need to clarify that I am not the one asking this question?
    - CyberRabbi 5y ago
      Many reasons. To minimize the chances our health care system is overrun and new mutations don’t emerge it’s beneficial to maximize public immunity to as many variants as we can as early as possible. Additionally the booster shot may come in the form of a third dose anyway, so there may be no personal benefit to waiting either.
    - wizzwizz4 5y ago
      Why should I study now instead of revising before the exam?
    - HWR_14 5y ago
      The booster isn't because the first shot isn't working now. It will be required because your body will eventually forget how to fight COVID (you'll need three shots no matter when you start) or because new variants will pop up. Either way, your choice is "get the shots now and be safe for the intervening year, or get the two shots a year of non-protection later". The cost of getting another shot every year is nothing. I'd much rather get a shot every year than go a year without being protected.
DoreenMichele 5y ago
To be fair, most "news" of any sort on any topic is bad news.
- aeternum 5y ago
  We generally measure the success of news by user engagement, and bad news is often more emotional and engaging. Perhaps a better metric would be the information content, but that's difficult to measure and most people probably don't care.
  - wizzwizz4 5y ago
    > Perhaps a better metric would be the information content, Celebrity gossip tabloids!
- WalterBright 5y ago
  If it bleeds it leads.
  - DoreenMichele 5y ago
    And if you find yourself depressed and all that, stop reading "the news." There actually is good news in the world, but it is seldom found in "the news." See also Don Henley's Dirty Laundry. Kick 'em when they're up. Kick 'em when they're down.
AzzieElbab 5y ago
Why stop at COVID? If you watch the news you probably think that America is either becoming a communist country or about to be overrun by fascists.
mpweiher 5y ago
The old news catechism applies: Bad news is good news. Good news in no news. No news is bad news.
codeulike 5y ago
Highly recommend the "Coronavirus Good News" twitter account https://twitter.com/Coronavirusgoo1?s=09 https://twitter.com/Coronavirusgoo1?s=09 It's uk based but a lot of the info it retweets is globally applicable
ufo 5y ago
Here in Brazil the pandemic is currently in the worst phase it has ever been, with no signs of improving in the near future. I'm glad that other countries can have good news to share but unfortunately that is certainly not the case here.
- ArkanExplorer 5y ago
  Are you saying that just based on PCR testing results, or actual experience in daily life? You at least get to shop, study, entertain and transport yourself in public without limitations, which is something that most people from elsewhere in the world cannot say?
  - dillondoyle 5y ago
    Would love to hear personal experience of OP but there are horrifying news stories. Lots of young people and kids getting very sick [1], lack of food [2], running out of oxygen w/ over 4k dying a day (reported who knows the real number..), vaccine they are using only 50% effective [3], asking women to delay getting pregnant [4] and more. 1 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/brazil-alarming-high-number-babies-children-are-dying-covid-19-n1264231 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/brazil-alarming-high-num... 2 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56765150 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56765150 3 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/10/out-of-control-brazils-covid-surge-sparks-regional-fears https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/10/out-of-control-braz... 4 https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/17/americas/brazil-pregnancy-covid-intl/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/17/americas/brazil-pregnancy-cov...
    - ufo 5y ago
      Personally, it sucks having to navigate treating a serious health condition, scheduling surgery, etc, in the middle of a pandemic. The silver lining is that my close family has the privilege that we can all work from home, so at least we're relatively safe from the COVID itself.
  - ufo 5y ago
    The lack of limitations is part of the problem. We're currently at the highest number of COVID cases and deaths but despite that there is a lot of resistance against the government implementing a lockdown, in large part because the federal government is run by science-hating lunatics. The most horrifying recent news is that hospitals around the country are running out of sedatives used for COVID intensive care. There have been reports of intubated patients waking up from sedation and having to be tied down to their beds to keep them from ripping out the air tube. It's inhumane. (Link warning: shocking images) https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/equilibrioesaude/2021/04/nas-utis-de-covid-pratica-de-contencao-se-espalha-e-pacientes-intubados-sao-amarrados-as-camas.shtml https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/equilibrioesaude/2021/04/nas-u...
danans 5y ago
Most of news related to COVID is bad news. You don't get to 500k deaths in the US (3 million globally) as the result of an equal amount of good things (i.e vaccines) vs bad things (repeatedly overwhelmed ERs) happening. The media has the effect of amplifying the bad news, and some of it is very appropriate when it emphasizes the bad behavior of those in positions of extreme power like the president, but the nature of a pandemic is to be inherently far more bad than good, and most of the good (vaccines, economic relief packages for the working class) are only relative to how bad the fundamental situation is.
CharlesRoberts 5y ago
When you open up vaccination to less vulnerable groups long before those who most need the vaccination have gotten it, then you end up with a lot more dead people than necessary. That policy makes it look superficially like fast progress is happening but in the end extra dead people makes sad news.
WalterBright 5y ago
Man falls downstairs and breaks his leg. Pessimist: bad things always happen to me, my leg broke, I'm so unlucky. Optimist: I'm so lucky I just broke my leg. I could have broken my neck!
s0rce 5y ago
It's not? Vaccine roll out seems to be going well and cases are down in California and there have been articles about this, they just aren't very interesting...
tiahura 5y ago
The US media saw Covid as a club to use against Trump.
- belltaco 5y ago
  How does that explain the same negative bias after Biden took power? And why exclude Fox News and talk radio which are very popular and have been calling it only a flu?
frodetb 5y ago
Well, humans are more likely to be interested in bad news. As a survival strategy, that happens to be a good place to direct ones attention. Unfortunately for The News, our attention and so their source of income is getting harder and harder to come by. Given all that, and coupled with how entirely central and all-consuming Covid-19 has become as a topic the past year-and-a-half, these results shouldn't be all that shocking. I wonder how it might compare to any of the upcoming catastrophic or disruptive phenomenons of the 2020s.

41 points by undefined1 5y ago

TL;DR - because that's what they think we want to hear. They do a little bit of comparison to past news, but it would be interesting to see a comparison to post-9/11 coverage of terrorism in particular, since 9/11 was the most recent event with emotional impact on the same level.

aurizon 5y ago

There is a steady stream of anti-vaccine fake news - all designed to look plausible. People with an education in biotech detacts this, the common person weighs it as a bit of valid news = seeds of doubt are sown. check microbe.tv for the real goods.

lettergram 5y ago
As someone with a degree in bioengineering, I can tell you - yes there are a lot of plausibly fake items. HOWEVER, almost all COVID19 information is from non-peer reviewed sources and governments / corporations who have already shown a willingness to mislead. Furthermore, the PCR protocols that were being used initially have been retracted and modified (even though all our tests & vaccination methodology was based off the original protocols). Moreover, all criticism (including valid counter points) is being suppressed if not outright banned. I think it's fair to say, there's a large incentive to play up the fear (CNN has said as much https://www.projectveritas.com/news/part-2-cnn-director-charlie-chester-reveals-how-network-practices/ https://www.projectveritas.com/news/part-2-cnn-director-char...). It further plays into the political agendas and makes corporations more money. EDIT: WOAH I was down voted the instant I clicked submit. @dang, this seems a bit odd?
- dang 5y ago
  You weren't downvoted the instant you clicked submit, and the users who downvoted you are definitely legit. Obviously this was a provocative comment to put it mildly. The site guidelines ask you not to go on about downvotes (and also not to post insinuations about manipulation). https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
jjgreen 5y ago
I have to say, I think that vaccine advocates are making a tactical mistake by characterising those who do not like or do not want the vaccine (and say so) as "fake news", "designed to look plausible", and so on. They have a different view to you and people can have differing views without either of them having hidden agendas, being evil etc. Before you ask, I'm keen on vaccines (and have had AZ), but I'm an old git, it makes sense for me. Younger people could make a valid different choice, and others would be wise to respect that choice.
- aurizon 5y ago
  That is the tyranny of the uninformed manifesting. In technicall matters the vote of uninformed people lacks validity to change affairs. The human immune system(s) - yes, we have a number of them. The innate system which evolution has fine tuned to protect us, and the adaptive (learns to defeat a pathogen). These are not voted on by an animal's free will. They are entirely automatic, as animals and man in the past had zero comprehension of what occurs behind the scenes. People have the unwise right to refuse vaccination - perhaps to their detriment or death. (try to keep living after you get bitten by an infectious rabid animal and see what happens). This brings to center stage the true merits of the anti-vaxxers. Get enough doubters and many controlled viruses will lose their 'herd immunity' at which point we well get sweeping waves of infection of many of these 'defeated' viruses. This is OK, of you feel mankind has overpopulated the earth - the added deaths will reduce the degree of overpopulation. I for one want measles to be eliminated and stay dead. Many orthdox Jewish communities seem to want measles to be an ongoing scourge of man. What about smallpox = 35% death rate. The plague - about the same. Polio? I am old enough to recall the huge rooms full of people doomed to live the rest of their lives encased in an artificial lung. So, no, I will not respect that choice = no respect at all - they can do it if they like, but if they choose to let their kids get those illnesses deliberately, then they need to be forced to buy disease specific health insurance, and remove that burden from my health care pool.

postalrat 5y ago

Because apparently people are too dumb to think for themselves.

andybak 5y ago
It's very hard to glean your point from this off-hand statement. I can imagine a very wide range of things you're trying to communicate but unless I delve into your post history then I'm simply guessing.
- postalrat 5y ago
  Many of them can be true at the same time.

lettergram 5y ago

CNN Technical director told us as much - Money & power. https://www.projectveritas.com/news/part-2-cnn-director-charlie-chester-reveals-how-network-practices/ https://www.projectveritas.com/news/part-2-cnn-director-char...

mikeyouse 5y ago
Just to be clear .. a technical director has approximately 0 to say about programming decisions. They deal with sound / lighting / computing equipment.
- lettergram 5y ago
  Indeed, but they can definitely provide insight as to what's going on on set.
- throwaway4china 5y ago
  I wouldn't say zero. He works there, he gets the feel there. You have to wonder why did he said all of those specific things. Do you think he made them all up on the spot? Those things he said line up with their programming (the death toll counters, etc.).
  - WalterBright 5y ago
    CNN's 24/7 death clock seems to have disappeared when Biden was inaugurated. It's almost as if .... :-)
    - mikeyouse 5y ago
      It's wild to me that people think there was some big anti-Trump effort with Covid news -- there were 3,300 people per day dying of the disease in January, now there are 1/4th - 1/5th as many. Maybe, just maybe, that's why the news has changed focus?
      - WalterBright 5y ago

tedunangst 5y ago

This paper is dated November 2020, but I don't think anything has changed. In the past 48 hours, the local paper ran a story about everybody needing a third booster shot, a story about all the things it's still not safe to do if you're fully vaccinated, and finally a story that the city was immediately moving to full general eligibility because vaccine providers couldn't fill appointments. Nowhere did they provide links to any of the providers with open slots. You had to work that out for yourself.

CyberRabbi 5y ago
Why is a third booster shot bad news? That seems like neutral news and possibly even good news since it means we have a solution to the problem. Edit: if you’re going to downvote this comment that’s fine but could you do me the courtesy of explaining why? I don’t understand what the flaw is in my reasoning and I am curious to understand it.
- tedunangst 5y ago
  "Why should I get this shot instead of waiting for the one that works?" Do I really need to clarify that I am not the one asking this question?
  - CyberRabbi 5y ago
    Many reasons. To minimize the chances our health care system is overrun and new mutations don’t emerge it’s beneficial to maximize public immunity to as many variants as we can as early as possible. Additionally the booster shot may come in the form of a third dose anyway, so there may be no personal benefit to waiting either.
  - wizzwizz4 5y ago
    Why should I study now instead of revising before the exam?
  - HWR_14 5y ago
    The booster isn't because the first shot isn't working now. It will be required because your body will eventually forget how to fight COVID (you'll need three shots no matter when you start) or because new variants will pop up. Either way, your choice is "get the shots now and be safe for the intervening year, or get the two shots a year of non-protection later". The cost of getting another shot every year is nothing. I'd much rather get a shot every year than go a year without being protected.

DoreenMichele 5y ago

To be fair, most "news" of any sort on any topic is bad news.

aeternum 5y ago
We generally measure the success of news by user engagement, and bad news is often more emotional and engaging. Perhaps a better metric would be the information content, but that's difficult to measure and most people probably don't care.
- wizzwizz4 5y ago
  > Perhaps a better metric would be the information content, Celebrity gossip tabloids!
WalterBright 5y ago
If it bleeds it leads.
- DoreenMichele 5y ago
  And if you find yourself depressed and all that, stop reading "the news." There actually is good news in the world, but it is seldom found in "the news." See also Don Henley's Dirty Laundry. Kick 'em when they're up. Kick 'em when they're down.

AzzieElbab 5y ago

Why stop at COVID? If you watch the news you probably think that America is either becoming a communist country or about to be overrun by fascists.

mpweiher 5y ago

The old news catechism applies: Bad news is good news. Good news in no news. No news is bad news.

codeulike 5y ago

Highly recommend the "Coronavirus Good News" twitter account https://twitter.com/Coronavirusgoo1?s=09 https://twitter.com/Coronavirusgoo1?s=09 It's uk based but a lot of the info it retweets is globally applicable

ufo 5y ago

Here in Brazil the pandemic is currently in the worst phase it has ever been, with no signs of improving in the near future. I'm glad that other countries can have good news to share but unfortunately that is certainly not the case here.

ArkanExplorer 5y ago
Are you saying that just based on PCR testing results, or actual experience in daily life? You at least get to shop, study, entertain and transport yourself in public without limitations, which is something that most people from elsewhere in the world cannot say?
- dillondoyle 5y ago
  Would love to hear personal experience of OP but there are horrifying news stories. Lots of young people and kids getting very sick [1], lack of food [2], running out of oxygen w/ over 4k dying a day (reported who knows the real number..), vaccine they are using only 50% effective [3], asking women to delay getting pregnant [4] and more. 1 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/brazil-alarming-high-number-babies-children-are-dying-covid-19-n1264231 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/brazil-alarming-high-num... 2 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56765150 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56765150 3 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/10/out-of-control-brazils-covid-surge-sparks-regional-fears https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/10/out-of-control-braz... 4 https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/17/americas/brazil-pregnancy-covid-intl/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/17/americas/brazil-pregnancy-cov...
  - ufo 5y ago
    Personally, it sucks having to navigate treating a serious health condition, scheduling surgery, etc, in the middle of a pandemic. The silver lining is that my close family has the privilege that we can all work from home, so at least we're relatively safe from the COVID itself.
- ufo 5y ago
  The lack of limitations is part of the problem. We're currently at the highest number of COVID cases and deaths but despite that there is a lot of resistance against the government implementing a lockdown, in large part because the federal government is run by science-hating lunatics. The most horrifying recent news is that hospitals around the country are running out of sedatives used for COVID intensive care. There have been reports of intubated patients waking up from sedation and having to be tied down to their beds to keep them from ripping out the air tube. It's inhumane. (Link warning: shocking images) https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/equilibrioesaude/2021/04/nas-utis-de-covid-pratica-de-contencao-se-espalha-e-pacientes-intubados-sao-amarrados-as-camas.shtml https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/equilibrioesaude/2021/04/nas-u...

danans 5y ago

Most of news related to COVID is bad news. You don't get to 500k deaths in the US (3 million globally) as the result of an equal amount of good things (i.e vaccines) vs bad things (repeatedly overwhelmed ERs) happening. The media has the effect of amplifying the bad news, and some of it is very appropriate when it emphasizes the bad behavior of those in positions of extreme power like the president, but the nature of a pandemic is to be inherently far more bad than good, and most of the good (vaccines, economic relief packages for the working class) are only relative to how bad the fundamental situation is.

CharlesRoberts 5y ago

When you open up vaccination to less vulnerable groups long before those who most need the vaccination have gotten it, then you end up with a lot more dead people than necessary. That policy makes it look superficially like fast progress is happening but in the end extra dead people makes sad news.

WalterBright 5y ago

Man falls downstairs and breaks his leg. Pessimist: bad things always happen to me, my leg broke, I'm so unlucky. Optimist: I'm so lucky I just broke my leg. I could have broken my neck!

s0rce 5y ago

It's not? Vaccine roll out seems to be going well and cases are down in California and there have been articles about this, they just aren't very interesting...

tiahura 5y ago

The US media saw Covid as a club to use against Trump.

belltaco 5y ago
How does that explain the same negative bias after Biden took power? And why exclude Fox News and talk radio which are very popular and have been calling it only a flu?

frodetb 5y ago

Well, humans are more likely to be interested in bad news. As a survival strategy, that happens to be a good place to direct ones attention. Unfortunately for The News, our attention and so their source of income is getting harder and harder to come by. Given all that, and coupled with how entirely central and all-consuming Covid-19 has become as a topic the past year-and-a-half, these results shouldn't be all that shocking. I wonder how it might compare to any of the upcoming catastrophic or disruptive phenomenons of the 2020s.