When it comes to the protests in various cities against the imposition of lifesaving social-distancing rules, what is missing is context: The size of these events is tiny — much smaller than the number of people who have died from the coronavirus. The protesters (organized in part by fanatical, right-wing gun advocates and sometimes featuring anti-Semitic images and symbols) reflect a point of view at odds with the views of a significant majority of Americans, who worry about lifting restrictions on business and public activity too soon. Some commentators have gone so far as to suggest the appearance of these characters spells trouble for a governor such as Michigan Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, whose coronavirus response has earned more than 70 percent approval in a recent poll, or for former vice president Joe Biden’s election prospects. (That is certainly what the Trump team would like us to believe, but is there any evidence whatsoever it is having this effect?)

Cable TV, with all the time in the world, chooses to report the same story (Trump rambles and look how his base loves him! Could this save him?), even though it is entirely at odds with political reality and unenlightening at a time the public deserves crucial information.

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There are scores of stories barely covered (except in C-SPAN, in some cases) during the hours of daily cable TV news coverage:

Governors’ news conferences

What effect did early action in California have on the spread of the virus?

How are landlords coping with non-rent-paying tenants? How are small businesses that got the loans making out? What are small-business owners turned away from banks doing?

Are residents in states with irresponsible governors (e.g. Florida) upset by the protesters who risk infecting them? Are businesses concerned?

What daily ordeals do essential workers face?

Why is there a disproportionate number of cases and deaths among nonwhites?

What is the plight of first responders, and how are public health and safety compromised by their infection?

What is happening in states such as South Dakota and Iowa, where Republican governors delayed or refused to enact stringent stay-at-home rules?

What is antibody testing, how does it work and why can’t we ramp it up?

What is diagnostic testing, how does it work and why can’t we ramp it up?

How are countries that reopened businesses faring?

Why was Germany so successful in stemming the spread of the virus?

Given lost revenue and unplanned, enormous expenses, which services must states cut if not funded by the feds? How will that affect ordinary Americans?

Why is distance learning stumbling out of the gate, and can we fix it?

Why does Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin seem to work so well with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)?

What are the big companies that somehow managed to get the small-business loans? How did they pull it off?

These and dozens of stories are barely covered while the formulaic political conflict stories (What dumb thing did Trump say, and who responded?) run in one form or another again and again. Perhaps the networks imagine that the audience will not watch serious, substantive coverage. The assumption that in the worst domestic crisis in our lifetimes, viewers simply want more-of-the same political conflict fodder might be wrong; moreover, it is irresponsible when lifesaving information is needed.

The problem on cable TV news is not simply excessive coverage of Trump’s misleading news conferences, but also what cable outlets leave out of coverage. Their coverage fails to appreciate the seriousness of our predicament for the foreseeable future.

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