Gupta–Rogan COVID Conversation: Productive, Civil Discussion

This week Joe Rogan, the extremely popular and sometimes controversial podcast host, invited Dr. Sanjay Gupta, chief medical correspondent for CNN, on his show. The dichotomy was fascinating to behold. After all, Rogan is the definition of what journalism hates today — a freelancer outside the editorial control of old media — and Gupta the epitome of medical journalism in America today. But surprisingly (or maybe not, for those of us familiar with Rogan and Gupta), this was one of the most productive conversations to have been conducted in this country since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

You would be hard pressed to come up with another instance of a representative of a major news outlet appearing on a podcast or non-mainstream outlet the way Gupta did, traveling to Austin to sit across the table from Rogan. As Gupta himself said, many of his friends advised him not to do it. And yet what resulted was a rare moment of bipartisan discussion — calm, rational, and cordial.

PJ

About the Author

Pradheep J. Shanker

Pradheep J. Shanker is a radiologist who focuses on health policy.

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This week Joe Rogan, the extremely popular and sometimes controversial podcast host, invited Dr. Sanjay Gupta, chief medical correspondent for CNN, on his show. The dichotomy was fascinating to behold. After all, Rogan is the definition of what journalism hates today — a freelancer outside the editorial control of old media — and Gupta the epitome of medical journalism in America today. But surprisingly (or maybe not, for those of us familiar with Rogan and Gupta), this was one of the most productive conversations to have been conducted in this country since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

You would be hard pressed to come up with another instance of a representative of a major news outlet appearing on a podcast or non-mainstream outlet the way Gupta did, traveling to Austin to sit across the table from Rogan. As Gupta himself said, many of his friends advised him not to do it. And yet what resulted was a rare moment of bipartisan discussion — calm, rational, and cordial.