A man walks past a mural depicting a nurse wearing a face mask, in Pristina, Serbia, December 1, 2020.
Editor's note: Anthony Moretti is an associate professor at the Department of Communication and Organizational Leadership of Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.
Major League Baseball celebrated its best players earlier this week during the annual All-Star Game festivities. One of the events was the Home Run Derby, during which eight players competed against each other to hit the most number of home runs in a short period of time.
The made-for-television event is a big deal, and it is wildly popular with baseball fans (yes, I am one of them).
Bloomberg also tried to hit a home run recently. It failed miserably. Perhaps the only positive takeaway for the reliably pro-U.S. news organization: It appears not a whole lot of people noticed. On the other hand, those who did see Bloomberg's report have sent the corporation a clear message: You blew it.
As a reminder, Bloomberg released its latest "Covid Resilience Ranking" a few days ago, and the report - using carefully selected data - suggested the U.S. was at the top of the world in recovering from the horrible coronavirus pandemic. (China was ranked eighth, and I have more to say about that below.) As just one example of selecting parts of reality while ignoring other parts, Bloomberg again did not consider the total number of deaths from the virus in its calculations. Nor did it recognize the raging Delta variant of the virus.
As an American, it pains me to write the following words: More than 600,000 of my fellow citizens have died because of the virus (no nation has lost more people) and the Delta variant could cripple the gains that have been made in vaccinating millions of Americans. A country still mourning its dead and still putting people in the hospital should face higher scrutiny for how well it is recovering from the pandemic.
Bloomberg forgot the dead and the ill, and it also seemed disinterested in the economic plight millions of Americans continue to face. In my recent editorial for CGTN, I noted Bloomberg's rather "cheerful analysis" of America roaring back to normal life "ignores data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which recently reported that '20 million (American) adults live in households that did not get enough to eat, 11.5 million adult renters are behind on rent, and some of the progress from late March (when stimulus checks of $1400 were sent to millions of American homes) appears to be waning.'"
Visitors wear face masks on the boardwalk in Huntington Beach, California, U.S., July 1, 2020. /VCG
Put it all together and somehow Bloomberg wants you and me to believe that America is a place of sunshine and happiness during the summer of 2021. Neither you nor I would have to look far to find much different sentiments.
Meanwhile, China is likely to post better economic data than the U.S. this year. China has lost far fewer people from the pandemic when compared to the U.S. And China continues to succeed in containing the virus. Bloomberg acknowledged these facts but then doubled down on its rankings by suggesting the country is no better than eighth in returning to normal. So in Bloomberg's eyes what is China doing wrong? Bloomberg continues to punish China for promoting a strict lockdown throughout the pandemic.
You read those words correctly: China's lockdown measures, that are recognized as a success story by The Lancet, one of the world's most respected medical journals, designed to keep its people safe did not meet with Bloomberg's approval.
In short, Bloomberg continues to cherry pick specific data to support a dubious claim that Western nations (which occupy seven of the top 10 rankings) were well on the way to recovering from the pandemic while bashing China for wanting to keep its people out of harm's way.
Embarrassing? Of course. Poor reporting? Same answer.
Perhaps the only good news for Bloomberg is that few people are paying attention. According to CTR market research, which has analyzed public reaction to Bloomberg's reporting, the video that accompanied Bloomberg's story had been viewed by approximately 7,000 people as of July 14, far lower than other videos also uploaded by Bloomberg over the past couple of weeks. The people who have seen it clearly do not support it. The study stated that "the video has received few responses from governments and the public, and skepticism has occupied the mainstream."
The research noted that almost 80 percent of respondents indicated they disliked the video, and approximately 73 percent of the comments related to the video were negative. (Only four of more than 232 responses were categorized as positive.) One person, pointing out that the country where 600,000 have died was ranked number one, exclaimed "What a joke!" Other statements receiving significant support questioned why Bloomberg believed "positive news from China has to be censored" and asked "who are you trying to convince with this kind of reporting?"
Furthermore, CTR's analysis found that "joke," "fake," and "shameless" were the terms most frequently used by people reacting to the video, which was posted on YouTube.
New Zealand's NewsHub is a news agency also skeptical of Bloomberg's reporting. NewsHub noted that Bloomberg had added a new category, "reopening progress," to its evaluation. "It's with this new criterion that the U.S. has surged up the rankings from a lowly 13th in May to 1st in June," NewsHub concluded.
And perhaps that was the goal? We must ask the uncomfortable question whether Bloomberg wanted to concoct a strategy that would reward the U.S. for "reopening progress" even if that meant refusing to accept the horrible death toll and the lingering variant issues as relevant in any conversation about how well the nation is actually doing.
Undoubtedly someone is asking whether you or I should care where the U.S., New Zealand, China or any other nation is ranked by one American news agency. That would be a mistake; while Bloomberg might not be at the All-Star level in comparison to other U.S. news organizations, its brand is considered positive. As a result, its readers will accept the idea that the U.S. is thriving right now (while China continues to lag by putting its people first). The reality is much different.
(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)