The Media and Hydroxychloroquine

Dr. Zev Zelenko - proponent of the controversial drug Hydroxychloroquine

My eyes have been opened. I used to give the benefit of the doubt to most journalists. I thought that even though every news story reported is skewed somewhat by the bias of the individual reporting it, I still believed that reputable and responsible journalists would try as much as humanly possible to leave their personal biases out of it.

Over the course of the 3 years of the Trump Presidency that belief has been decimated. This has nothing to do with whether I believe Trump is a good or bad President. Or whether I like his polices or not. Or whether his character is good or bad.  (Although I’m sure that some will read this post that way. It is not about Trump.)

This is about how the mainstream media reports on the President. Which is with unmitigated bias in every story. For the most part I don’t think most journalists even realize it. His every act - his every statement - is expressed negatively or accompanied by evidence showing he’s wrong. In TV reporting it is sometimes accompanied by a reporter’s smirk. I have never seen anything like it.

The exact opposite is true about journalists that support him (such as most of those on Fox).  To them he can do no wrong. They blame the mainstream media for their extreme bias and yet don’t see that in themselves.

I am so done with my belief in journalistic integrity. It does not seem to exist. At least not anymore. Or at least when it comes to this President and anything he touches.

I now look at every single news story with a jaundiced eye. No matter the subject. It is hard to know what the truth is about any subject. Especially those that have any connection with the President. One such subject is a medication called hydroxychloroquine. Which is a commonly used to treat malaria and lupus.

Now a disclaimer. Let me be absolutely clear. I do not under any circumstances think that anyone should be taking this drug for any reason without being advised to do so by a responsible physician. I have no clue how dangerous or effective hydroxychloroquine is for treating COVID-19. I do not believe people should be taking chances with unproven controlled substances

That being said, this drug is now associated with the President. Which is no secret. He was an early advocate of taking it as a possible effective treatment for those affected with COVID-19.  He based it on the anecdotal findings of an Orthodox Jewish physician who had good results with patients taking a cocktail whose main ingredient was hydroxychloroquine. Versus patients that did not take it.

Once Trump endorsed it, almost immediately a small study found it to be ineffective and possibly even dangerous.  At the same time that study clearly stated that their sample was too small to be conclusive. Adding that a much larger sample was needed to prove what their smaller clinical trials indicated.

Nevertheless, in almost every report about hydroxychloroquine since then, it is mentioned in this negative light.

When the President started taking that drug himself (after being exposed to a valet that tested positive) he was both ridiculed and harshly criticized. Mostly saying that - as President he was setting a bad example.

Meanwhile, it has been at least 2 months since that first report came out. One might conclude from the way the media has been talking about it - that any medical research on hydroxychloroquine would have long ago been discarded like the plague! (No pun intended).

Except that it hadn’t been until yesterday. According to CBS, Hydroxychloroquine was one of 5 possible treatments undergoing large clinical trials by the World Health Organization (WHO). A lot of people were being injected with this ‘dangerous’ medication to see what the truth really is.

CBS also reported that based on the warnings from a respected medical journal (Lancet) about its dangers WHO stopped their clinical trials. Even though their own research had thus far not shown any adverse effects on their test subjects.

Why has WHO decided to stop their trials now without a single adverse affect on any of their test subjects? Could it be politics? Why did they not trust their own researchers?

I have no clue about whether or not a respected medical journal like Lancet reports their findings without political bias. I know that the science behind it isn't biased. But maybe the dangers Lancet  reported on are not exactly as bad as they are presenting it? 

Journalists are human. Like everyone else, they have all kinds of biases. Political, religious and otherwise. Even scientists writing in medical journals. Scientists are human too.

That is all I see now. A fully biased media with pretenses of unbiased reporting.  I don’t even think I can trust respected medical journals anymore. Maybe they’re right.  Maybe hydroxychloroquine is as dangerous as they say it is. Or maybe not. Who knows?!