***To read the full blog, please check out the complete post on NewsBusters***
With so much misinformation and fear flying around in regards to the spread and the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19), it’s important to short out the facts and try to keep people calm. But during Thursday’s CBS Evening News, White House correspondent Paula Reid seemed perfectly content in stirring the pot, and boosting one liberal senator’s unfounded claims the Trump administration was lying about the virus.
Reid began her report with the ridiculous Trump-era media tactic of insisting the President had “ignored questions about the lack of tests for the coronavirus,” which were being shouted at him from across the White House lawn with Marine One’s engines roaring. A hint at the seriousness, or lack thereof, in how she would conduct the rest of the segment.
Recalling that earlier in the week Vice President Mike Pence stated that the COVID-19 task force had anticipated readily available testing for the virus, she acted like he was caught in a lie even though he freely admitted: “We don't have enough tests day to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward.”
“Democratic Senator Patty Murray, whose state of Washington has suffered an outbreak, said she wasn't sure who to believe,” Reid said as a response to Pence. She then played a soundbite of the Senator trying to spread panic.
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