Dr. Richard Besser on 'radio silence' from government experts and 'pandemic fatigue' among the public

Reliable Sources

CNN

News

3.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 18 June 2020

⏱️ 33 minutes

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Summary

Public health science and communication "are inextricably linked," says Dr. Richard Besser, former CDC acting director, ABC News medical expert, and president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He and Brian Stelter discuss the "unmet need" for clear and cohesive messaging from federal officials about Covid-19. "It's practically radio silence at the federal level from political leaders as well as public health leaders in terms of where we are and what needs to be done," he says. Dr. Besser also talks about strengths and weaknesses in the media coverage of the pandemic. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Are you're feeling pandemic fatigue?
0:03.0	Are your friends, your loved ones, your colleagues?
0:07.0	And if so, what does that say about public health communication?
0:12.0	Those are some of the questions here on the Public Health Communication.
0:17.0	Those are some of the questions here on this week's Reliable Sources Podcast. So let's cue the music.
0:18.0	I'm Brian Stelter and as you know this is our weekly podcast edition of Reliable, our chance to go more in-depth with media
0:26.0	leaders and newsmakers. And this week I want to focus in on the current state of the COVID-19
0:32.4	pandemic and how it's being communicated about,
0:37.0	how government officials are or are not using the media to get the message out.
0:45.0	And how the press is handling this long running story,
0:50.0	this crisis now that's been going on for six months around the world and has had a
0:55.6	grip around the United States for more than three months. My guest today
1:00.9	is one of the best communicators in the business.
1:04.0	Dr Richard Besser is a former acting director of the CDC.
1:08.0	He spent years at ABC News covering medical news, covering things like the Ebola outbreak in 2014.
1:17.2	He was at ABC until just a couple of years ago.
1:20.0	He is now the president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
1:24.6	And you've probably seen him on television, maybe on podcasts, talking about this current
1:30.2	crisis.
1:31.2	Dr Besser, thank you so much for coming on.
1:34.0	Thank you, Brian.
1:35.0	It's great to be here.
	...

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