Fox News’ Howard Kurtz writes about the media’s Ebola coverage, wondering if in a grab for ratings and clicks, networks are intentionally dramatizing the epidemic. He lasers in on his former network, in particular.
I was watching CNN the other day and unless I missed something during a bathroom break, the network did not come off the Ebola story for a single minute. The chatter in the business is that CNN’s coverage has reached Malaysian plane levels. But in fairness, the other networks aren’t that far behind.
Watching CNN for a few hours, I saw these banners on the screen:
AdvertisementARE U.S. HOSPITALS READY FOR EBOLA?
EBOLA CASE RAISES AIR TRAVEL QUESTIONS
PATIENT WITH POSSIBLE EBOLA SYMPTOMS IN DC
CONCERN OVER INTERNATIONAL EBOLA SCREENING
And on and on and on.
Kurtz didn’t get into any of those “other networks” possibly going too far. On his own network last week, “Outnumbered” panelist Andrea Tantaros suggested people from Ebola-plagued countries could potentially seek care from a “witch doctor.” And over the weekend, Mike Huckabee casted doubt on whether Americans can trust President Obama on the Ebola crisis, airing a montage of sound bites Obama made that Huckabee classifies as broken promises.