Media top headlines September 8
In media news today, a Washington Post columnist complains the media is obsessed with not offending Republican readers, Joy Behar praises President Biden on Afghanistan, and CNN summer viewership dips below one million viewers for the majority of the summer
Podcast host Joe Rogan wondered if he should sue CNN after the liberal network accused him of distributing misinformation after taking ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug that has recently prompted federal health warnings, during his battle with COVID-19.
Rogan shared with his listeners over the weekend that he had contracted the coronavirus and used several drugs in his treatment, including ivermectin, a controversial admission after the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged consumers against the use of ivermectin as treatment for COVID-19.
Rogan said the drug had been prescribed by his doctor and he credited it with helping his recovery, but CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner suggested that Rogan was leading his listeners astray.
"He’s not helping matters when he promotes this sort of nonsense therapeutic mix," Reiner said, adding that ivermectin "doesn't work."
CNN anchor Jim Acosta also mentioned Rogan by name when he asked his guest Dr. Anthony Fauci to respond to "COVID disinformation" on Sunday.
Rogan pushed back on CNN's narrative, wondering if he had to take the network to court.
"Bro, do I have to sue CNN?" Rogan said Wednesday. "They're making s**t up. They are saying I'm taking horse dewormer. I literally got it from a doctor. It’s an American company. They won the Nobel Prize in 2015 for use in human beings and CNN is saying I’m taking horse dewormer. They must know that is a lie."
"If the internet says it, who cares," Rogan added. "But CNN is saying it. Jim Acosta!"
Rogan mused that "haters" wanted him to have a rough case of COVID so he would "learn his lesson."
"Because I wasn't scared during the entire pandemic, what they would like is that when I did get sick that I was really sick and became really scared and learned my lesson," he said. "Instead, it is the worst-case scenario for them. I bounce back about as quick as I can."
Some media analysts appeared to agree with Rogan's assessment.
"Lying is fine as long as it's done to malign people their audience hates," journalist Glenn Greenwald responded. "That is 100% the rule at liberal corporate outlets. CNN knows this. Joe Rogan's earnest shock that Jim Acosta is lying about him is kind of endearing."
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Several other prominent figures, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, R., reacted to Rogan's warning.
The media was ripped this week after sharing a false report about Oklahoma hospitals being overwhelmed by patients who had overdosed on ivermectin. The story was originally reported at Oklahoma's KFOR-TV news, and quoted testimony from Dr. Jason McElyea.
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The Northeastern Hospital System would later issue a statement regarding his association with the hospitals in question, revealing that McElyea he had not worked at the location for two months nor treated any ivermectin overdoses.
The Rolling Stone, one of several outlets to report or share the story, issued an "update" following the bombshell clarification, which many readers suggested should have been a retraction.