74 professors blast Fox News virus misinformation; Rights groups slam Hungary's 'power grab;' FDA authorizes virus antibodies test; NY paying premium for medical equipment
NewsHero - April 3, 2020 - Issue 69
(Amnesty International, Twitter)
Welcome to today’s edition of NewsHero for April 3, 2020.
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Team NewsHero
Bill Withers on stage in 1973. (Fin Costello/Redferns)
NewsHero Notes
Bill Withers - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Bill Withers, who wrote and sang a string of soulful songs in the 1970s that have stood the test of time, including “ Lean on Me, ” “Lovely Day” and “Ain’t No Sunshine,” has died from heart complications, his family said in a statement to The Associated Press. He was 81.
Women’s health providers and advocates - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Abortion providers including Whole Woman’s Health and Planned Parenthood on Monday sued to block a Texas policy allowing the state to enforce limits—at least temporarily—on the ability of women to obtain abortions.
The FCC - 🦸♀️ / Anyone doing anything to stop robocalls - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
The FCC has announced that all carriers and phone companies must adopt the STIR/SHAKEN protocol designed to combat robocalls by June 30, 2021, reports Engadget.
Afternoon Brief
Professors, journalists calling attention to misinformation - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Nearly 80 journalism professors and working journalists signed an open letter to Fox News on Thursday, slamming the network's coverage of the coronavirus pandemic as a “danger to public health,” reports The Hill.
“Viewers of Fox News, including the president of the United States, have been regularly subjected to misinformation relayed by the network—false statements downplaying the prevalence of COVID-19 and its harms; misleading recommendations of activities that people should undertake to protect themselves and others, including casual recommendations of untested drugs; false assessments of the value of measures urged upon the public by their elected political leadership and public health authorities,” the letter reads. Below is an image of the letter’s complete text.
Committee to Protect Journalists - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Committee to Protect Journalists is calling for Iraqi authorities to “reinstate the license of the Reuters news agency, and allow all media outlets to cover the COVID-19 pandemic freely.” The group says the Communications and Media Commission, Iraq’s media regulator, suspended Reuters’ license for three months and fined it $21,000 for a news report alleging that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country are much higher than official statistics.
CPJ says also that Myanmar should “lift its order to block news websites and cease all efforts to censor the press,” following the Ministry of Communications and Transport’s ordering local mobile internet service providers to block 221 websites, including sites it claimed published “fake news.”
Opponents of Hungary’s authoritarian bill - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Calling it a “power grab” in Hungary, Human Rights Watch says the authoritarian takeover in the country puts the EU at risk. Hungary’s parliament on Monday gave the go-ahead for the government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, to rule with unlimited power for an indefinite time. HRW says Orban can “now suspend any existing law and implement others by decree, without parliamentary or judicial scrutiny.” The decision was made under the pretext of addressing the novel coronavirus public health crisis.
“This is not the way to address the very real crisis that has been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” David Vig, Amnesty International's Hungary Director, said in a statement. “We need strong safeguards to ensure that any measures to restrict human rights adopted under the state of emergency are strictly necessary and proportional in order to protect public health.”
Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and several other European politicians are calling for a hearty response.
“I have been dreaming of a ‘United States of Europe’ for years. Precisely for this reason, I have the right, and the duty, to say that after what Orban has done today, the European Union MUST act and make him change his mind. Or, simply expel Hungary from the Union,” Renzi said in a tweet.
NYT Profiles ‘Silent First Responders’ Keeping America Working
FDA authorizes emergency use of COVID-19 test for antibodies
A worker outside the Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York on Wednesday. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
NewsHero is continuing to offer a compilation of stories and resources that best represent the current state of the coronavirus pandemic, centered on those individuals, institutions, and organizations stepping up to end this crisis as quickly and effectively as possible. The public, too, has a duty. This includes staying responsibly informed and taking the situation seriously, while remaining as cool-headed and as isolated as possible. These are strange and difficult times, but we will endure.
“‘We Are the Silent First Responders’: The Workers Who Make America Work,” published by The New York Times, profiles many of the Americans who are still on the job, working to keep things going, while putting themselves at risk.
A new survey, conducted by Morning Consult and Politico, from March 27 to 29, showed that 55 percent of voters support Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ signature policy proposal, Medicare for All. The numbers reveal a nine-month high with the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
New York state pays up to fifteen times the standard price for medical equipment, reports ProPublica. State data shows that New York is paying massive markups for vital supplies.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is calling on federal officials to increase aid efforts for the state as medical supplies are quickly running out, saying, “It feels like we entered this war, and it is a war, with less ammunition than we needed.”
The North Sails shop in Freeport, Maine, after seeing sales decline as the coronavirus spread, began using their industrial sewing machines for making cotton masks for caregivers and others who need protection from the disease.
(Oliver Darcy, Twitter)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has put out its first emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 test that looks for antibodies in the blood by identifying past coronavirus infections.
A group of university students in Yogyakarta, on the Indonesian island of Java, put the word out they needed donations, and ended up distributing 400 bottles of hand sanitizers and 30 bottles of hand soaps to workers, including pedicab drivers, construction workers, food sellers, and motorcycle taxi drivers.
Apple has released a screening tool and set of resources—the COVID-19 website and COVID-19 app—to help people protect their health during the spread of the coronavirus, based on the latest CDC guidance.
A pub in Thailand’s famed seaside resort town of Pattaya has turned into a community kitchen serving free food for workers who have lost their jobs since the tourism industry has been hit by the spread of the coronavirus. Surajai Attanart, owner of the Differ Night Pub, and his workers feed up to 1,000 residents who have fallen on hard times.
Amirah Gajia, the owner of Bake Street, a popular north London cafe—which was forced to close due to the spread of COVID-19—is among more than 400,000 people who signed up to help Britain’s National Health Service cope with the coronavirus crisis within 24 hours of a government appeal for volunteers.
Amnesty International tweeted: “From 150 Tunisian workers choosing to self isolate in a factory in order to make facemasks to millions upon millions of us taking a moment to clap for healthcare workers. Here are 5 top moments of hope that shined through the pandemic. Share the video and stay safe at homer”
Extra! Extra!
If you’re having trouble getting motivated to keep up with exercising or any form of regular movement, consider that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is continuing her workouts at the Supreme Court gym throughout the virus pandemic, CNN reports.
According to Bryant Johnson, her longtime personal trainer, Ginsburg insists on continuing the sessions.
Justice Ginsburg is an 87-year-old, four-time cancer survivor. So, there’s your motivation. Now let’s all do some curls with canned tomatoes in honor of this inspiring human.
Our heroes are identified as follows:
🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️ - the hero, hands down. - Meaning that it wasn’t even a close call.
🦸♀️🦸♀️ - the hero, but… - Meaning that in this situation the call needed to be looked at in a little more detail. For example, in this case, they did the right thing but there have been some questionable calls in the past.
🦸♀️ - the hero, but only here, and it was a close call. - Meaning that in this instance they did the right thing but it was either out of character or a maddeningly close call.
Sources:
Headline - Source/Link ‘
Lean On Me,’ ‘Lovely Day’ singer Bill Withers dies at 81 - AP News
FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 - Engadget
Pet adoptions are way up amid coronavirus crisis, even with shelters closed to public - USA Today
Appeals court reinstates Texas abortion restrictions imposed due to coronavirus pandemic - Fox News
Victory for Texas abortion clinics amid outbreak put on hold - AP News
U.S. appeals court allows Texas abortion curbs amid pandemic - Reuters
74 Journalism Professors Sign Letter Slamming Fox News Over Coronavirus ‘Misinformation’: ‘A Danger to Public Health’ - Mediaite
74 journalism professors accuse Fox News of spreading coronavirus misinformation - The Hill
Professors, Journalists Call Out Fox News’ Coronavirus Misinformation In Scathing Letter - Huffpost
Iraqi regulator suspends Reuters’ license for 3 months over COVID-19 report - CPJ
Myanmar orders dozens of news websites blocked in crackdown on ‘fake news’ - CPJ
Hungarian parliament votes to let Viktor Orban rule by decree in wake of coronavirus pandemic - CNN
Fight for Democracy in Europe: Daily Brief - Human Rights Watch
Amnesty International - Twitter
‘We Are the Silent First Responders’: The Workers Who Make America Work - The New York Times
Support for Medicare For All in U.S. Surges Amid Coronavirus Pandemic, New Poll Shows - Newsweek
In Desperation, New York State Pays Up to 15 Times the Normal Prices for Medical Equipment - ProPublica
Students provide sanitizers to daily workers to fight virus - AP News Amnesty International - Twitter
FDA authorizes first coronavirus antibody test - CNN
Apple releases new COVID-19 app and website based on CDC guidance - Apple
Tourist pub in Thailand turns into free kitchen for jobless due to coronavirus - Reuters
No more coffee and cakes: London cafe owner rushes to help health service - Reuters
Maine sail-maintenance shop turns to sewing medical masks - AP News
Ruth Bader Ginsburg continues to work out at Supreme Court private gym, her trainer says - CNN
