{"id":518506,"date":"2021-05-17T16:05:53","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T20:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=518506"},"modified":"2021-05-17T16:05:54","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T20:05:54","slug":"how-the-left-wing-media-promoted-a-baseless-covid-conspiracy-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-the-left-wing-media-promoted-a-baseless-covid-conspiracy-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"How The Left-Wing Media Promoted A Baseless COVID Conspiracy Theory"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-the-left-wing-media-promoted-a-baseless-covid-conspiracy-theory%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=518506&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-1140854742-1200x800-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>Last May, a Florida Department of Health employee named Rebekah Jones accused Governor Ron DeSantis (R) of firing her for refusing to minimize the number of COVID-19 deaths, so he could reopen the state. In the last week, Charles C.W. Cooke has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2021\/05\/rebekah-jones-the-covid-whistleblower-who-wasnt\/\">posted<\/a> a definitive refutation of her claims at National Review, but one item has been missing from the story: the role the legacy media played in spreading Jones\u2019 false claims.<\/p>\n<p>Cooke shows how Jones claimed she had constructed Florida\u2019s COVID-19 \u201cdashboard\u201d on her own, despite the fact that she merely entered other people\u2019s data into the database. In addition, he shows that while she claimed she was ordered to change the original data, she had no access to that data to begin with. After changing her initial story in the first few days, Jones accused the well-respected Deputy Secretary of Health Dr. Shamarial Roberson, of asking her to change data and called Roberson a \u201cliar, fraud, murderer.\u201d Jones has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars through multiple GoFundMe pages to set up an alternate COVID-19 website which, Cooke argues, overestimates the number of coronavirus-related deaths because Jones lacks adequate statistical knowledge and nuance. Police, whom Jones called \u201cGestapo,\u201d raided Jones\u2019 home in December after she reportedly stole the personal information of 19,000 state employees, and she turned herself in to authorities in January on a felony hacking charge.<\/p>\n<p>Although Cooke writes that Jones was no \u201cwhistleblower,\u201d the legacy media have spent the last year promoting her as a living indictment of Gov. DeSantis as a heartless, deceptive autocrat willing to sacrifice the elderly and schoolchildren for the almighty dollar. Cooke drew attention to that media coverage on Monday\u2019s \u201cMorning Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been shared by \u2026 [MSNBC prime time hosts] Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow, who appear on this network, by Chris Cuomo on CNN,\u201d Cooke said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s astonishing to me that nobody has really looked into this, because while this has poisoned millions of minds, it\u2019s easily rebuttable just by looking at public information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Cooke\u2019s comments only glance the surface of the legacy media\u2019s biased coverage and misinformation in the Rebekah Jones saga alone (let alone their broader war against Ron DeSantis). Here are some of the most significant moments:<\/p>\n<p>CNN\u2019s Brianne Keilar <a href=\"http:\/\/transcripts.cnn.com\/TRANSCRIPTS\/2005\/19\/cnr.12.html\">reported<\/a> on the Rebekah Jones story on May 19, 2020, saying the government\u2019s COVID-19 \u201ctransparency decreased in recent weeks since Rebekah Jones and her team were booted out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The same day MSNBC\u2019s Ari Melber <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/transcripts\/msnbc-live-with-ari-melber\/2020-05-19-msna1360136\">said<\/a> that Jones \u201cwas\u00a0actually removed from the job after being told, reportedly, to censor information\u201d; his guest, former Obama adviser Dr. Zeke Emanuel, said, \u201cThis is just purely a way of deceiving the public.\u201d Also on May 19, former Republican strategist Nicolle Wallace <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5Ijo3Txq6GA\">warned<\/a>\u00a0MSNBC viewers of \u201ca government effort to censor scientific information and keep it from going public \u2013 an extraordinary charge to even contemplate given the size of Florida\u2019s vulnerable population.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The next day, Politico <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/newsletters\/florida-playbook\/2020\/05\/20\/desantis-administration-takes-heat-over-firing-florida-governor-defends-unemployment-claims-system-rader-exit-sets-off-scramble-489277\">repeated<\/a> Jones\u2019 side of the story and claimed it fed into a narrative of DeSantis\u2019 deception:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"11\">\n<p><em>Jones told [Florida Today] that she was fired for refusing to manipulate data. \u2026 So let\u2019s just make this clear: The full story may not be out yet, but this is another example of the DeSantis administration having to deal with questions about transparency. \u2026 The problem for DeSantis World is that is a recurring theme, not just a one-off situation. If there\u2019s nothing to hide, then there\u2019s no reason to make it so hard to get information.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Media coverage stretched into the next month, when MSNBC had Jones on the June 12 edition of \u201cThe Beat with Ari Member\u201d to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/transcripts\/msnbc-live-with-ari-melber\/2020-06-12-msna1367906\">accuse<\/a> DeSantis\u2019 team of \u201cdeflating their number of [positive] tests\u201d and supporting policies that \u201ccould potentially cost more lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On June 24, then-host of CNN\u2019s \u201cNew Day,\u201d Alisyn Camerota, began her interview with Jones by <a href=\"http:\/\/transcripts.cnn.com\/TRANSCRIPTS\/2006\/24\/nday.05.html\">quoting<\/a> Jones\u2019 latest, \u201cvery damning\u201d allegations:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"14\">\n<p><em>Yesterday, you put out some very damning tweets of what you say Florida is still doing. So let me just read to folks at home. You say, \u201cI have multiple sources at the Department of Health who have just told me that they have been instructed this week to change the numbers and begin to slowly deleting deaths and cases so it looks like Florida is improving next week in the lead-up to July 4th, like they\u2019ve, \u201cmade it over the hump.\u201d Next tweet, \u201cI have independently verified they have deleted at least 1,200 cases in the last week. They\u2019re only reporting all of the cases now so they can restrict reporting next week to make everyone think it\u2019s over. I\u2019ve had two Department of Health employees in different offices confirm.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>To her credit, Camerota asked Jones for \u201cevidence beyond word of mouth\u201d and showed some skepticism at Jones\u2019 story.<\/p>\n<p>By last June, liberal cable news outlets were so invested that they had to defend her from her critics. MSNBC\u2019s Lawrence O\u2019Donnell <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wnmL8rIdMJA\">vouched<\/a> for Jones\u2019 reliability on June 15, asserting:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"6\">\n<p><em>Your work has been praised by Dr. Deborah Birx and others. Your credibility has been unquestioned. Has anyone in state government said there\u2019s a reason to question your credibility about this?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In reality, last May DeSantis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/watch-desantis-absolutely-eviscerates-the-media-for-their-botched-reporting-on-florida\">revealed<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"8\">\n<p><em>She\u2019s not a data scientist. She\u2019s somebody that\u2019s got a degree in journalism, communication &#038; geography. She is not involved in collating any data; she does not have the expertise to do that. She is not an epidemiologist; she is not the chief architect of our web portal.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Rather than ask Jones about these significant questions of her credibility, CBS News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BeLj5DBp-84\">invited<\/a> Jones to critique <em>DeSantis<\/em>\u2019 statements about COVID-19 in July. O\u2019Donnell also invited Jones back to close out his July 13 episode, where he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/transcripts\/the-last-word\/2020-07-13-msna1375691\">told<\/a> viewers flatly, \u201cRebekah Jones was fired by the state of Florida after refusing to manipulate coronavirus data\u201d; he added that DeSantis\u2019 official coronavirus numbers were \u201cnot even close\u201d to the real numbers offered by Jones.<\/p>\n<p>Yet no one was as effusive as CNN\u2019s Chris Cuomo, who told his audience flatly, \u201cShe was right.\u201d On August 31, Cuomo <a href=\"http:\/\/transcripts.cnn.com\/TRANSCRIPTS\/2008\/31\/CPT.01.html\">opened<\/a> one of his many interviews with Jones by saying:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"12\">\n<p><em>[W]hat\u2019s more scary about [COVID-19] is not being told the truth about the numbers and what\u2019s happening. That\u2019s why we covered Rebekah Jones. Remember her, the ousted manager of Florida\u2019s coronavirus data tracking dashboard?\u00a0Jones said then, \u201cHey, they\u2019re not doing numbers the right way in Florida.\u201d She got savaged. <strong>She was right<\/strong>. She said she was asked to manipulate the numbers. Her superior said she was fired for insubordination. She then filed a whistleblower complaint. But now, <strong>she\u2019s going to take us inside the reality<\/strong> of what\u2019s happening with schools.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Jones told Cuomo that several states, including Florida, \u201care using HIPAA as a shield to not release data\u201d indicating a supposed explosion of COVID-19 infections among schoolchildren. Particularly in Florida, \u201cleadership didn\u2019t like what the numbers showed, so they pulled back\u201d the data from public view.<\/p>\n<p>On December 7, Jones told Cuomo that seizing her computers and records amounted to \u201cjust a very thinly veiled attempt of the governor to intimidate scientists and get back at me while trying to get to my sources.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The network repeatedly aired Jones\u2019 home video footage of the police raid, in which she claimed the police aimed a gun at her face and pointed a gun at her children. But CNN did not point out that her video shows <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/watch-fired-florida-data-analyst-praised-by-media-has-home-raided-over-alleged-hacking\">neither<\/a> of those occurrences.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, CNN anchor Jim Sciutto <a href=\"http:\/\/transcripts.cnn.com\/TRANSCRIPTS\/2012\/08\/cnr.04.html\">told<\/a> his viewers, \u201cListen to this story, because it\u2019s concerning.\u201d His co-anchor, Poppy Harlow added, \u201cI have a sense there is more here\u201d to the story than DeSantis let on.<\/p>\n<p>CNN reporter Drew Griffin claimed that Jones\u2019 story <a href=\"http:\/\/transcripts.cnn.com\/TRANSCRIPTS\/2012\/09\/cnr.22.html\">undermined<\/a> \u201cGovernor Ron DeSantis [who] has faced stiff criticism for his handling of the virus, refusing to order shutdowns, institute mask mandates and some say, downplaying the numbers of Floridians who\u2019ve become sick and died.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On December 10, Chris Cuomo again interviewed Jones, saying she had <a href=\"http:\/\/transcripts.cnn.com\/TRANSCRIPTS\/2012\/10\/CPT.01.html\">endured<\/a> \u201ca lot of bullying and bad stuff.\u201d Jones used \u201cCuomo Prime Time\u201d to accuse DeSantis of \u201ctrying to flush out people that they view as being disloyal within state agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Five days later, Jones went on MSNBC and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/the-reidout\/watch\/florida-covid-19-whistleblower-nothing-gov-ron-desantis-has-done-with-the-virus-has-been-honest-97806917680\">told<\/a> Joy Reid, \u201cI was fired back in May for refusing to actually change numbers and make the state look like it was ready to reopen when, by our own metrics, it was not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jones told \u201cThe ReidOut\u201d she had not caused the data breach she was accused of \u2014 but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/the-reidout\/watch\/florida-covid-19-whistleblower-nothing-gov-ron-desantis-has-done-with-the-virus-has-been-honest-97806917680\">added<\/a> curiously, \u201cEven if that had happened at my house \u2026 there\u2019s no justification for that many armed police to come into my house to get a computer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At Reid\u2019s insistence, she took aim at DeSantis, saying that \u201cnothing that he has done with this virus, since the beginning has been honest. Nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"6.3918367346939\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Florida covid-19 whistleblower <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GeoRebekah?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GeoRebekah<\/a>: discusses the raid on her home and says \u201cnothing Gov. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RonDeSantisFL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@RonDeSantisFL<\/a> has done with the virus has been honest.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hxBXgMzabs\">https:\/\/t.co\/hxBXgMzabs<\/a> via <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MSNBC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@msnbc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Joy-Ann \ud83d\ude37Reid (@JoyAnnReid) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JoyAnnReid\/status\/1339023953805897730?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 16, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>A week later, MSNBC blogger Steve Benen gave viewers the promise of future coverage,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/rachel-maddow-show\/tuesday-s-mini-report-12-22-20-n1252154\">writing<\/a>\u00a0on December 20 that \u201cRebekah Jones\u2019\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/florida-data-scientist-who-says-she-was-ousted-over-covid-n1251982\">court case<\/a>\u00a0is worth watching.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As late as January, NPR noted Jones\u2019 claim that she was fired for refusing to manipulate data and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/coronavirus-live-updates\/2021\/01\/18\/957914495\/data-scientist-rebekah-jones-facing-arrest-turns-herself-in-to-florida-authoriti?t=1620986307910\">reported<\/a> that Jones \u201chelped create Florida\u2019s COVID-19 dashboard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This March 11, Cosmopolitan\u2019s Emily Bloch <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cosmopolitan.com\/politics\/a35714647\/rebekah-jones-florida-covid-19-data-whistleblower-arrest\/\">claimed<\/a>, \u201cRebekah Jones Tried to Warn Us About COVID-19. Now Her Freedom Is on the Line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The legacy media accuse conservative outlets of spreading baseless \u201cconspiracy theories.\u201d Yet they promoted just such a tall tale for months, because it tarnished the reputation of Ron DeSantis.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Cuomo once told Rebekah Jones that his show, \u201cCuomo Prime Time,\u201d would \u201cstay on [her story] until the end.\u201d When will he admit the show is over? <a href=\"http:\/\/transcripts.cnn.com\/TRANSCRIPTS\/2105\/14\/CPT.01.html\">As of this writing<\/a>, he hasn\u2019t retracted, or even acknowledged, the numerous false statements made on his platform.<\/p>\n<p>Even Joe Scarborough spread more misinformation about MSNBC on Monday while clearing the air about Jones. \u201cWe covered the first few stories, and then it kind of disappeared, at least for us,\u201d he said. MSNBC\u2019s viewers, and everyone armed with this article, know that\u2019s not true. While Scarborough deserves tremendous credit for inviting Cooke to set the record straight, he has yet to come clean about the full extent of cable news negligence in the false story his network helped promote<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><i>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/i>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i>member<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last May, a Florida Department of Health employee named Rebekah Jones accused Governor Ron DeSantis (R) of firing her for refusing to minimize the number of COVID-19 deaths, so he &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2278348,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-1140854742-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"How The Left-Wing Media Promoted A Baseless COVID Conspiracy Theory","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-518506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-1140854742-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"How The Left-Wing Media Promoted A Baseless COVID Conspiracy Theory","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2278348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}