Skip to content

Q&A: How Did Pandemic Reporting Affect Trust in Media and Public Health?

Day 1 · 2:08:22 · Ron Johnson

  • 📰 MP Dawson quotes a 2021 CBC piece urging hosts to police unvaccinated Thanksgiving guests.
  • 🤝 He asks how vaccine and pandemic coverage eroded trust in public health and legacy media in both countries.
  • 📜 Johnson answers that officials worldwide followed Fauci’s lead, revealing the timeless urge of power to expand itself.

Post-break question on media narratives and collapsing public trust; answer begins as the window closes.

← Short Recess Before Remaining Questions | Limit Government Power After COVID Overreach →

Transcript

Ron Johnson · 2:08:22

Thanks, Dean. Uh, thank you, Senator Johnson, for being here. I think it's important that we hear your testimony me today. On October 5th, 2021, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation headlined a story titled "Anxious about unvaccinated guests at Thanksgiving? Here's some advice for those difficult discussions." The byline for that story said, and I quote, "I think it's fair to ask the question, have you been vaccinated or not?" Ontario's top doctor said. It went on to say, I quote, people shouldn't hesitate to set personal boundaries around what they feel is COVID safe and what isn't COVID safe. And if another person has a problem with that, well, we have the right to set our own personal limits and boundaries. Here in Canada, perhaps more than in the US, Canada trusts our government and media for fair, honest reporting to help make informed decisions. If you would comment for me on how you feel reporting around the COVID pandemic and in particular reporting around the vaccines has impacted trust in public public health and the legacy of media reporting in the U.S. and here in Canada?

Ron Johnson · 2:09:28

Well, first of all, I think it's just a shame that so many public health officials from around the world listen to Anthony Fauci and listen to the Peter Marks of the world that were covering all this up. Again, as an American, I really regret regret that. But I think what it showed was the tendency of people in power to want to increase their power. I talked about, you know, our shared heritage with Magna Carta, which is really about the individual, individual Mean freedom, right? One thing I didn't tell about myself is that I'm not a fan of government. I know I serve in it, but I think the American founders were geniuses in the fact that they realized that we're not angels.