Local News Is Giving Time To COVID Conspiracy Theorists

The coronavirus pandemic might just be the most reported-on event of the century, with millions of doctors, scientists, and journalists providing detailed analyses of its scientific realities. Yet somehow, your nice aunt in Colorado is still worried that the coronavirus might be a hoax to trick people into getting injected with a Chinese mind-control serum that's made from Dr. Fauci's pee. And the sad fact is that she might not be getting these insane conspiracy theories from social media but her local news channel. 

Dozens of news channels and websites across the U.S. are set to broadcast an edition of America This Week, a news ratings giant among small-town audiences, that will cater to a creepy cavalcade of coronavirus dummies. As detailed by news watchdog Media Matters, host Eric Bolling will be giving an uncontested platform to 'virologist' Judy Mikovits, creator of the viral virus denial documentary Plandemic, her attorney Larry Klayman, who's personally suing China for $20 trillion for creating the virus, and Fox New's Dr. Nicole Saphier, who believes it's likely that the virus was intentionally created in a lab.

Now, you might recognize Eric Bolling as the guy from your local news station. But Bolling isn't local -- and neither is plenty of your local news. Many Americans are unaware that a lot of the trustworthy, locally owned news stations they've been switching to for the evening news since 1984 are currently owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, an openly right-wing media megacorporation. And Sinclair has a sinister reputation for forcing its local subsidiaries to broadcast corporate media packages without any editorial input. They're also not shy to use their acquired local talent as actual mouthpieces for their rightwing propaganda scripts:

So what kind of debunked doofs might millions of Americans be infected with while they turn on the local news this weekend? It could be the kind who claim that the coronavirus was created by Dr. Fauci and shipped to China. Or that the Wuhan lab that intentionally spread the virus was paid millions by Obama. Or that the coronavirus vaccine will kill millions. Or that, instead, people should drink bleach and flock to the beaches to be cured by the sand and the "healing microbes in the ocean." And, of course, that the death toll is being wildly exaggerated by the liberal media to undermine the Trump presidency. Heads up on the All Caps emails from your relatives on Monday.

For more weird tangents and very local news (he never leaves his house), do follow Cedric on Twitter. 

Top Image: Sinclair Broadcasting Group