It was the Best of Times. It was the Worst of Times.
In response to COVID-19, one nation locked down and was described as inflicting “great cost to people’s livelihoods and personal liberties”; another nation locked down and was said to be (valiantly) “risking its economy in an effort to contain Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak”.
- Which news platforms reported these? (Look again, I’ll wait.)
- What’s the lesson here, what do you reckon these nations did different?
- What do you think the news platform here sought to achieve with these accounts?
(I’m a big admirer of many things about the New York Times, not least the fearless way they have consistently stood up to and called out President Trump. But this is reprehensible.)
Horowitz, Jason. 2020. “Italy Locks Down Much of the Country’s North Over the Coronavirus”, New York Times (07 Mar) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/world/europe/coronavirus-italy.html https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1236484352965521408
Qin, Amy. 2020. “China May Be Beating the Coronavirus, at a Painful Cost”, New York Times (07 Mar) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/world/asia/china-coronavirus-cost.html https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1236479276586807296
