White House Turns on Media’s ‘Completely Irresponsible’ COVID Fearmongering

Welcome back to “Forgotten Fact-Checks,” a weekly column produced by National Review’s News Desk. This week, we dive into tensions between the Biden administration and the mainstream media over COVID-19 stories, the D.C. mayor’s maskless birthday soiree, and more media misses.

Mainstream Media Flubs COVID-19 Reporting (Again)

The mainstream media has dropped the ball time and time again in its coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic (see: the lab-leak theory, New York governor Cuomo’s COVID failures, criticisms of Florida governor DeSantis’s COVID response). However, this week, it picked up a new critic: the Biden administration.

Last week, Ben Wakana, the White House deputy director of strategic communications and engagement, who works on the COVID-19 Rapid Response Team, lambasted the New York Times and the Washington Post over their coverage of COVID-19 “breakthrough cases” in vaccinated individuals.

The Washington Post caught heat on social media from Wakana, and a number of experts, after it published a story about a “massive” outbreak in Provincetown, Mass., among vaccinated individuals. Of 965 cases that scientists traced to gatherings in Provincetown, no deaths were reported, and seven people were hospitalized.

“Vaccinated people made up three-quarters of those infected in a massive Massachusetts covid-19 outbreak, pivotal CDC study finds,” the paper wrote in a tweet.

“Completely irresponsible,” Wakana replied. “3 days ago the CDC made clear that vaccinated individuals represent a VERY SMALL amount of transmission occurring around the country. Virtually all hospitalizations and deaths continue to be among the unvaccinated. Unreal to not put that in context.”

Meanwhile, Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, suggested in a tweet that “journalism professors should study this headline for how something can be technically accurate but wildly misleading—in ways that have dangerous implications for public health.”

Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, reiterated that the outbreak in Provincetown was further proof of the vaccine’s efficacy against severe disease and death.

“I know I sound like a broken record but here’s the thing,” he wrote. “The vaccines are largely working as expected. We had an outbreak in P-town with lots of vaccinated folks infected. No one died. Very few got sick. And things have returned to normal. This is how vaccines work folks.”

Wakana also criticized a tweet by the New York Times that said, “Breaking News: The Delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox and may be spread by vaccinated people as easily as the unvaccinated, an internal C.D.C. report said.”

“VACCINATED PEOPLE DO NOT TRANSMIT THE VIRUS AT THE SAME RATE AS UNVACCINATED PEOPLE AND IF YOU FAIL TO INCLUDE THAT CONTEXT YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG,” Wakana responded.

CNN reported that the White House is “frustrated with what it views as alarmist, and in some instances flat-out misleading, news coverage about the Delta variant,” according to two senior Biden administration officials.

“The media’s coverage doesn’t match the moment,” one official said. “It has been hyperbolic and frankly irresponsible in a way that hardens vaccine hesitancy. The biggest problem we have is unvaccinated people getting and spreading the virus.

Meanwhile, some commended Fox News for more accurately portraying breakthrough-case data in context:

Rules for Thee, But Not For Me (Again)

A number of cities rushed to reinstate mask mandates last week after the CDC recommended that people in areas with substantial COVID-19 spread mask-up indoors, regardless of vaccination status. However, Washington, D.C., mayor Muriel Bowser gave district residents two days’ notice before its renewed mask mandate took effect.

After photos surfaced this weekend that appeared to show Bowser celebrating her 49th birthday with a DJ and comedian Dave Chappelle in a crowded indoor setting — maskless — just hours before the new mask mandate took effect, many began to wonder if the delay had been to accommodate her soiree.

Then, less than 24 hours after the mask mandate went into effect, the mayor reportedly officiated an indoor wedding without a mask, surrounded by hundreds of maskless guests at The Line DC, a four-star hotel in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, according to the Washington Examiner.

Bowser’s office has defended her conduct on the grounds that she removed her mask indoors only while actively eating and drinking, an exception included in her revived mask mandate. The Examiner’s coverage, however, suggests she was not actively eating and drinking when photographed.

This is far from the first time an official has been caught during the pandemic flouting their own restrictions (hello, governors Newsom and Whitmer). In fact, it’s not even the first time that Bowser has ignored her own orders. The mayor attended Joe Biden’s victory celebration in Delaware back in November. Upon returning, Bowser did not abide by the two-week quarantine that she had asked other D.C. residents to place themselves under.

Headline Fail of the Week

This week’s dishonor goes to NBC News: “Breakthrough Covid cases: At least 125,000 fully vaccinated Americans have tested positive” The outlet clearly buried the lede, which goes on to explain that the “125,682 ‘breakthrough’ cases in 38 states represent less than .08 percent of the 164.2 million-plus people fully vaccinated since January.”

Representative Peter Meijer (R., Mich.) criticized the piece on Twitter: “A responsible headline would read: 99.93% of fully vaccinated Americans have not tested positive. The COVID vaccine works.”

Media Misses

• An internal survey circulated at Vice last week asking employees about their views on Saudi Arabia’s image raised some eyebrows among staff.

The director of operations for Vice Media Group in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa reportedly shared a message in a Slack channel asking staff members to fill out the survey to help in “gathering some information on associations and perceptions people around the world have about Saudi Arabia.” The survey asked how staffers viewed Saudi Arabia, “what associations come to mind when mentioning the country,” if they could list three or four facts about the country or its people, as well as what it would take to consider moving to Saudi Arabia’s capital.

The survey, first reported by Defector Media, comes after the Wall Street Journal previously reported that in 2018, Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and former Vice Media executive chairman Shane Smith held talks about a joint venture between the media company and the Saudi government.

• The Washingtonian broke some major news:

Yes, that’s called reporting.

• Justin Baragona, a contributing editor at the Daily Beast, is similarly fascinated by the practice of journalism.