US Accuses China of Underreporting Coronavirus
Evan Vucci/AP
We ran the numbers: There are 2143 news articles covering this topic. 51% (1095) are left leaning, 32% (688) center, 17% (360) right leaning.
U.S. intelligence officials claim that China underreported the number of cases and the death toll that the country suffered as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. While left-leaning articles highlight that U.S. and Chinese governments have been competing over which country has done more to fight the coronavirus pandemic, right-leaning articles highlight that while Trump’s decision to restrict travel from China was previously criticized, it is now seen as a necessity.
A left-leaning article by MSN highlights that U.S. and Chinese governments have increasingly used the coronavirus pandemic as a contest over which country is the world’s leading humanitarian force. China’s state-run media outlets have shifted to focus on propaganda praising the Communist Party’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, while criticizing the U.S. for stigmatizing China. The State Department responded with a fact sheet showing how U.S. contributions to global agencies far surpass China’s.
Newsweek published a centrist article reporting that the U.S. has far surpassed China and every other country in the world in confirmed cases and deaths due to the coronavirus, reporting more than 190,000 cases across the country and 4,100 deaths. The article also notes that in addition to China, Russia and Iran have been criticized for putting out disinformation about the pandemic.
A right-leaning article by Fox News highlights that while media figure derided Trump’s earlier move to restrict travel from China as unnecessary and xenophobic, now they are hastily retreating from that position as the coronavirus continues to ravage the economy and cause deaths. The article also notes that numerous Democrats have falsely claimed that the president cut the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) budget and reports that the Obama administration sought hundreds of millions of dollars in funding cuts to the CDC.