Mediaite’s Winner and Loser of the Day

THE DAILY NEWSLETTER – FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 2021

MEDIA WINNER: Don Lemon

CNN’s Don Lemon visited the Baton Rouge, Louisiana hospital where he was born to report on the state’s Covid-19 crisis, and he interviewed multiple patients and doctors.

Only about 38% of Louisianans have been vaccinated, compared to about 50% nationwide. Lemon described the hospital as “bursting at the seams,” which the Chief Medical Officer attributed to the highly contagious Delta variant infecting unvaccinated people.

Lemon is vaccinated and has been a vocal supporter of the vaccines on his show. But he made sure to conduct his interviews with the Covid patients with empathy. He commented later on that he recognized that lectures and badgering wouldn’t convince people to get vaccinated, so he was hoping showing the human side of this virus would help.

He did ask the patients about why they hadn’t been vaccinated, and had very thoughtful conversations with them how the unvaccinated weren’t necessarily partisan hardliners, but were cautious or dealing with hectic schedules.

The patients ending up urging viewers to get vaccinated. “I think everybody ought to try to get it,” one previously vaccine-hesitant woman told Lemon.

It’s a vitally important topic, and Lemon handled it with professionalism and heart.

MEDIA LOSER: Tucker Carlson

Your friendly neighborhood Mediaite newsletter correspondent doesn’t actually like selecting Fox News’ Tucker Carlson as the Loser of the Day. There’s a certain amount of outlandishness interwoven with cable news, outrage draws attention, attention drives up ratings, and Carlson is frequently the King of the Ratings.

But with great power comes great responsibility, and on Thursday night Carlson ignored Uncle Ben’s wise words and instead used the power of his top-rated show to mock a sexual assault survivor’s very reasonable concerns.

Earlier this week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told CNN’s Dana Bash that she not only feared for her life during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, she was worried she might be raped.

“Get a therapist, honey,” Carlson sneered, mocking the congresswoman’s fears as “crazy.”

It wasn’t crazy at all. Violent mobs are unpredictable, and there’s been extensive coverage of how Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress escaped the rioters with only moments to spare. If the mob had caught up with them, it’s reasonable to say it would have inflamed them further, so that even former President Donald Trump’s belated calls for calm may not have ended the rioting.

Ocasio-Cortez’s worries that day were valid, and Carlson’s misogyny was just pathetic.

READ THE FULL MEDIAITE GREEN ROOM NEWSLETTER HERE.

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