'Great Influenza' author John Barry on politicization of public health and news coverage of the Covid-19 crisis

Reliable Sources

CNN

News

3.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2020

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

John Barry, author of "The Great Influenza," reflects on what can be learned from history, now that his 2004 book has been thrust back onto best-seller lists. "Fortunately this virus is not nearly as virulent, as deadly as the 1918 virus, so we're not in that situation," he says. "But the trivialization of it for the first several months by the administration, the politicization of the mask issue -- it's costing lives. There is no question." Barry says the communications problem is paramount: "It all depends on convincing people to comply with the recommendations." He also discusses his recent New York Times op-ed and the influence of right-wing media. 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	We are living through history.
0:05.0	This pandemic, the American response to this pandemic
0:10.0	will be the subject of books years and decades from now.
0:15.0	So what can we learn from books about past pandemics?
0:21.0	That is one of the questions for this week's Reliable Sources Podcast.
0:25.0	So let's cue the music.
0:27.0	I'm Brian Stelter and this is our weekly podcast,
0:31.0	our weekly chance to go in depth with media leaders and newsmakers.
0:35.0	Talking about the story behind the story.
0:40.0	You may have heard the name John M. Berry sometime in the past few months.
0:45.4	He is the author of a book about a past pandemic that has once again become a bestseller due to the coronavirus crisis.
0:55.0	Back in 2004 he wrote the book The Great Influenza, the story of the deadliest
1:02.4	pandemic in history was about the flu of 1918.
1:07.0	So he wrote this book, The Better Part of 20 years ago, and it skyrocketed back to the bestseller lists in February and March and April of this year
1:17.8	due to what's going on in 2020.
1:21.9	Barry is out with a new op-ed for the New York Times. It says, when you mix science and politics, you get politics. His op-ed is a warning about what America needs to do differently now to try to contain
1:38.6	this virus. Barry is a professor at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
1:45.5	He is the author of several other books as well, but for purposes of this, I'm really interested in the
1:50.2	great influenza and what lessons can be learned from his work.
1:54.6	John, thank you so much for joining me.
1:57.4	Pleasure.
1:58.4	Looking forward to it.
	...

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