CORONA QUESTIONS

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On Corona, the Media, and Propaganda

Published: 19 March 2020; Languages: DE, EN

In the current situation, the old and proven propaganda rule applies again: the less is known, the more is speculated. For attentive readers, however, this offers an opportunity to assess the standards and focus of different media outlets and authors.
One may ask, for example:

• Who merely counts test-positive case and death figures without asking what these people actually fall ill with or die of?
• Who brings headlines such as „21-year-old football coach dies of coronavirus“ and only mentions in the last sentence that he had undiagnosed leukaemia?
• Who addresses the issue of so-called excess mortality, which is still within or even below the normal range in all countries and age groups?
• Who asks how many additional, unexpected pneumonia patients there are in intensive care units, and what their age and health profile is?
• Who prefers frightening pictures of viruses, protective suits and coffins rather than actual data, facts and background information?
• Who discusses the well-known problems with virus test kits in general, and the missing clinical validation of the currently used virus test kit in particular?
• Who highlights the problematic role played by the WHO in previous cases, and in this one?
• Who is trying to add a political or geopolitical spin to the current situation?
• Who is still talking about „biological weapons“, even though this scenario has long been ruled out by hardly spectacular death rates and death profiles?

The bioweapons rumor, which has been launched on every occasion for almost forty years, primarily serves a geopolitical and psychological purpose. (See also: History of Biological Warfare)
Medical and military experts asked by SPR recommend keeping three possible scenarios in mind when analyzing current developments („the three P’s“):

1. A pandemic of a dangerous virus
2. A media-induced mass psychosis
3. A potential psychological operation

As an example of recent psychological operations, they mention the repeatedly staged chemical weapons attacks in the Syria war, which have been uncovered since 2019 by whistleblowers of the OPCW and other experts, but have been largely ignored by the mass media.