Written by Nicholas Vetrisek
San Diego City Council candidate Noli Zosa was recently attacked on Twitter by journalists and Democratic activists in response to comments he made during a virtual town hall with State Assembly candidate June Cutter.
Zosa stated in the town hall that he believed that the media have sensationalized the crisis because ratings are “through the roof.” Ratings are undoubtedly up due to the pandemic, but Democrats on Twitter proceeded to attack Zosa for his comment.
San Diego Democrats for Equality President Ryan Trabuco attacked Zosa with a particularly dishonest series of tweets.
https://twitter.com/RyanTrabuco/status/1277658275798937605
In the town hall, Zosa never said that the coronavirus pandemic was a hoax. He merely stated that he thought the virus was sensationalized and that the crisis is being overblown by some.
Voice of San Diego CEO and Editor-in-Chief Scott Lewis also did not appreciate Zosa’s comments regarding journalism.
Really dislike this, @ZosaNoli. Journalists are getting laid off left and right. Cutbacks in major broadcasters, public broadcasting and newspapers. Nobody wants this to go on. Ratings != revenue for most operators. https://t.co/koJ9MpLpAp
— Scott Lewis (@vosdscott) June 29, 2020
Zosa was clearly referring to mainstream news outlets that have profited exorbitantly from fear-mongering click bait—not local publications. Obviously, the massive ratings boost that has been received by cable news is unlikely to trickle down to local news. When Stephen Puetz pointed this out, Lewis offered a cynical retort suggesting he doesn’t believe that Zosa was referring to mainstream media sources.
Is he?
— Scott Lewis (@vosdscott) June 29, 2020
Voice of San Diego may be struggling but for Fox, CNN, and MSNBC, business is booming. This is what Zosa was explaining and due to how obvious it is that this is what he was referring to, it’s hard not to see Trabuco and Lewis’ comments as anything other than intentional misrepresentation.
Even if Zosa’s premise is wrong, which can’t necessarily be proved either way, his facts are still correct. Even if the situation is getting better, the mainstream media have no reason to report accurately given that this crisis has provided their best ratings ever.
