Covering a Pandemic: COVID-19 and the News Media with Ben Smith

GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

GZERO Media

International Relations, Government, Foreign Policy, Gzero World, News Commentary, Trump, News, Global Economy, Geopolitics, Politics, Ian Bremmer

4.6 • 684 Ratings

🗓️ 6 April 2020

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, Ian Bremmer explores the media’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and President Trump’s treatment of journalists. Ben Smith, media columnist at The New York Times and former head of Buzzfeed News, looks at global coverage of COVID-19, including misinformation campaigns and social media’s role in society today.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I think it's basically a matter of proportion.
0:02.7	The biggest story in the country is not President Trump being a jerk to a reporter.
0:06.4	It's this pandemic.
0:10.3	As uncertainty has loomed over the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, many Americans have turned to the media instead of government for their answers.
0:18.4	What role has the fourth estate played in the crisis? Has the media been
0:22.5	an indispensable source of information, or is it spreading the kinds of falsehoods that get people
0:27.6	killed? Welcome to the GZero World Podcast. I'm Ian Bremmer, and this is where I share extended
0:34.0	versions of the interviews from my show on public television. Today I talk to media veteran Ben Smith, who recently left his post as editor-in-chief at BuzzFeed
0:42.8	to be a media columnist at the New York Times.
0:45.6	Let's get to it.
1:01.3	Ben Smith, New York Times. Ben Smith, New York Times. He used to be BuzzFeed. I knew you from both. Very good to be with you, man.
1:09.8	Thanks. Thanks for having me on from your bunker. So I want to talk to you about the media and this crisis.
1:17.6	And maybe start with the idea that, you know, in a recent poll I saw from Gallup, the news media was given the worst approval rating of all American institutions grappling with the coronavirus.
1:26.6	So, you know, as someone whose job it is now to kind of assess and
1:31.7	understand the media, why do you think that is? Well, I don't, I mean, it's not new, right?
1:38.8	I think there's, and it's not uniform. Republicans and conservatives now, you know, if you ask them, how is the media?
1:46.0	They'll give you, like, a 10%, you know, they'll say, they're doing a job, Democrats and liberals much, much higher.
1:54.3	And I think it's basically that media, in part, because media has been pulled into the sort of partisan stew of American life
2:02.1	and that there's been both a lot of actual mistakes by the media
2:07.2	and a real campaign on the right to, and by Donald Trump in particular, to demonize it.
2:13.9	That said, you know, it's media, with some exceptions, was mostly as behind as politicians on this.
2:23.1	Like, I'm on this crisis.
	...

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