{"id":44953,"date":"2020-04-22T12:50:53","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T19:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44953"},"modified":"2020-04-22T12:56:39","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T19:56:39","slug":"study-shows-higher-rates-of-coronavirus-deaths-linked-to-watching-sean-hannity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44953","title":{"rendered":"Study Shows Higher Rates of Coronavirus Deaths Linked to Watching Sean Hannity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone who has observed how Donald Trump and Fox News have portrayed the emergence and spread of the coronavirus for the past few months cannot help but notice their trivialization of the pandemic threat. They have contradicted the health experts who have been issuing dire warnings all along. They have insisted, falsely, that it is less deadly than the common flu. They have accused Democrats of creating it as a hoax to bring down the President.<\/p>\n

\"Fox
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

More recently, the Fox\/Trump cartel has been peddling the asinine exploits of astroturf protesters who seek to prematurely end the “stay-at-home”<\/em> policies imposed by most state governors. These are measures that have been responsible for helping to mitigate the most tragic consequences of the pandemic. They seem to be operating a doomsday cult with a death wish for the nation in order to allow wealthy corporations to return to padding their bank accounts. And they’re too stupid to realize that the only way back to economic prosperity is to protect the health of all Americans by defeating the virus.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, the field marshal for the COVID-19 militia is Sean Hannity of Fox News. And now his contributions to the success of the contagion have been affirmed by a study<\/a><\/strong> conducted by a trio of economists with the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago. The study compiled data related to the virus and matched it to television ratings for both Hannity, who routinely downplayed the virus, and Tucker Carlson, who, at least initially, reported on its potential for great harm. The key conclusions from their research reveal a distinct relationship between higher infection and death rates from the coronavirus and viewing of Hannity’s program:<\/p>\n

“Using both a poll of Fox News viewers over age 55 and publicly available data on television-watching patterns, they calculate that Fox viewers who watched Hannity rather than Carlson were less likely to adhere to social distancing rules, and that areas where more people watched Hannity relative to Carlson had higher local rates of infection and death.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While there are caveats to accepting these conclusions without some healthy skepticism (it is just one study and not yet peer reviewed), it satisfies a certain level of common sense. After all, any “trusted”<\/em> source of information (as Fox News viewers consider Hannity) is likely to exert influence on the consumer of that information. So if Hannity tells his audience that there is nothing to worry about, they will behave in a dangerously cavalier manner that makes them more susceptible to virus transmission and acquisition. And that’s precisely the behavior that would produce the results seen in this study.<\/p>\n

The study did not explore more broad associations involving Fox News as compared to other news networks. But it isn’t hard to imagine that the same factors would play out with similar results. In other words, if Fox News tells you it’s okay to go to work and ignore social distancing recommendations, you are probably going to be more at risk than viewers of CNN or MSNBC who are taking prudent precautions.<\/p>\n

These conclusions are also aligned with rational logic. News Corpse speculated two months ago that Trump’s cult rallies were potential breeding grounds<\/a><\/strong> for the coronavirus due to their willingness to ignore the warnings. What’s more, a recent Gallup survey found that Fox News viewers and Republicans are more likely to buy Trump\u2019s COVID-19 lies<\/a><\/strong>. Consequently, they too would have increased vulnerability. Which makes it impossible not to presume that it is far more dangerous to be in the company of reckless Republicans, Hannity viewers, and Trump supporters, than cautious Democrats. Proceed at your own risk.<\/p>\n

\n

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
\nFox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.<\/a>
\nAvailable now at Amazon.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone who has observed how Donald Trump and Fox News have portrayed the emergence and spread of the coronavirus for the past few months cannot help but notice their trivialization of the pandemic threat. They have contradicted the health experts who have been issuing dire warnings all along. They have insisted, falsely, that it is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,684,1200,8],"tags":[1397,554,33,129,25],"class_list":["post-44953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-media-bias","category-politics","category-propaganda","tag-coronavirus","tag-donald-trump","tag-fox-news","tag-sean-hannity","tag-tucker-carlson"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-hannity-scared.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-bH3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45113,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=45113","url_meta":{"origin":44953,"position":0},"title":"Hannity Freaks Out Over Holding Trump Accountable for His Coronavirus Death Toll","author":"Mark NC","date":"5\/2\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Donald Trump is without question the most reckless, ignorant, and incompetent president in America's short history. Nevertheless, he is renowned for failing to take responsibility for any of his calamitous failures. Trump will vainly shift blame to others, employ awkward deflections, and lie shamelessly to avoid being held accountable. With\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump Sean Hannity","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-hannity-mini-e1549743865260.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-hannity-mini-e1549743865260.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-hannity-mini-e1549743865260.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48664,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=48664","url_meta":{"origin":44953,"position":1},"title":"Sean Hannity Trolls a Year Old Comment By Dr. Fauci, Ignores His Own Idiocy","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/2\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The deadly lies by Donald Trump and his media confederates about the coronavirus pandemic have resulted in the tragic deaths of more than half a million Americans. And yet, they continue to brag that their negligence and incompetence has prevented unnecessary fatalities. It's a charade that masks a psychopathic disregard\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fox News Sean Hannity","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-hannity-trump-baby.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-hannity-trump-baby.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-hannity-trump-baby.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45756,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=45756","url_meta":{"origin":44953,"position":2},"title":"Studies Prove that Watching Fox News Increases Coronavirus Fatalities","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/25\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Media scholars and neutral observers almost universally agree that Fox News has been a source of flagrantly biased right-wing propaganda from the day it began broadcasting. It's founders - an arch-conservative, foreign-born, media baron (Rupert Murdoch), and an ultra-rightist Republican campaign operative (Roger Ailes) - intended that political prejudice to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump, Fox News, Coronavirus","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-fox-virus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-fox-virus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-fox-virus.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50156,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=50156","url_meta":{"origin":44953,"position":3},"title":"Sean Hannity of Fox News Admits that ‘I Am Simply Not Qualified’ to Give Expert Advice","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/23\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"In recent weeks the Delta variant of COVID-19 has spread rapidly through communities of unvaccinated Americans. 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Consequently, there has been some significant movement among some conservative politicians and pundits who were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fox News, Sean Hannity, Coronavirus","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-hannity-coronavirus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-hannity-coronavirus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-hannity-coronavirus.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46247,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=46247","url_meta":{"origin":44953,"position":4},"title":"Scaredy Trump Flees to Fox News After Biden Chooses Kamala Harris","author":"Mark NC","date":"8\/12\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"On Tuesday Joe Biden announced the selection of Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential running mate. The choice was universally acclaimed by all those not affiliated with the Trump Cult or Fox News. 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