A look at the media’s attempts to ‘fact-check’ President Trump’s predictions on the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine shows exactly why journalism is a dying industry.
The country’s first Covid-19 vaccines were administered on Monday. President Trump predicted as much prior to the election.
Today, he celebrated.
“First Vaccine Administered,” Trump tweeted. “Congratulations USA! Congratulations WORLD!”
The President predicted this day would come in historically record time.
“We’re looking to get it by the end of the year if we can, maybe before,” Trump said at a White House event in May.
“Vaccine work is looking VERY promising, before end of year,” he tweeted as well.
Not wanting the President to celebrate an accomplishment he saw on the horizon, the media pounced on his prediction and declared it to be fake news.
First Vaccine Administered. Congratulations USA! Congratulations WORLD!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2020
Media Fact-Checkers Were Wrong About the Vaccine, Trump Was Right
NBC News was one major media outlet all-too-happy to try and turn President Trump’s vaccine prediction into a supposed example of fake news.
As if the media’s role is to serve as the Nostradamus of the news world.
NBC predicted the President would “need a miracle” for a vaccine to be ready before the new year.
“President Donald Trump has suggested multiple times that a coronavirus vaccine could come within months, an accelerated timeline that prominent health experts and veteran vaccine developers say is unlikely absent a miracle,” they wrote under the guise of a ‘fact-check.’
They continued: “Experts say that the development, testing and production of a vaccine for the public is still at least 12 to 18 months off, and that anything less would be a medical miracle.”
To paraphrase the late great Hans Gruber, “You asked for miracles, Theo, I give you the POTUS.”
NBC Fact check: Coronavirus vaccine could come this year, Trump says. Experts say he needs a ‘miracle’ to be right.https://t.co/Pu6hDrWGgP
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 15, 2020
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More Media Failures
We certainly wouldn’t want to single out NBC News as the only media outlet who thought they could fact-check President Trump’s prediction on a vaccine and ended up failing miserably.
NPR ran a column about an FDA adviser, an official at probably one of the slowest, most overly-regulated government organizations in America until Trump came along, saying the swift arrival of a COVID vaccine simply is “not realistic.”
MSNBC managed to find an expert who said the idea of a vaccine by January is “preposterous.”
There were others …
— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) December 12, 2020
And still others …
They still think we should take them seriously pic.twitter.com/vM5IurHB9Z
— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) December 12, 2020
A special shout-out does go out to NBC though, as they again ‘fact-checked’ President Trump on his vaccine prediction in August.
“We are delivering lifesaving therapies, and will produce a vaccine before the end of the year, or maybe even sooner!” Trump claimed at his GOP convention speech.
“This is largely false,” NBC wrote.
Where are all the media reports fact-checking their own fake news story on the COVID-19 vaccine? Where is the apology to the President? The humble admission that any self-respecting news organization should stick to actual facts, not ones that they make up?
