CNN anchor John Berman greeted his audience at 6 a.m. ET Monday by lambasting “pomposity and punditry” in coronavirus coverage and promising something more substantial and fact-based from himself and his “New Day” co-anchor Alisyn Camerota.
“Chances are, you’re watching us from home this morning, knowing that you will be there and pretty much nowhere but there for weeks — maybe many weeks,” he said. “This is the new reality of the coronavirus pandemic. What we will do for the next three hours and every morning for three hours is give you all the developments and all the facts as they come in. Pomposity and punditry are not going to keep your family safe. Science will. Facts will. Truth will.”
Coverage of the spread of coronavirus in America has been criticized across the networks. President Donald Trump has accused CNN and MSNBC of sensationalism while himself being given 40 minutes to talk about the coronavirus — including an ill-informed “hunch” the death rate has been overblown — on Fox News.
Trump declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency during a White House press conference on Friday, which Berman pointed out in his opening remarks on Monday’s “New Day.” He also shared the latest recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is that gatherings of 50 or more people should be limited for the next eight weeks.
JUST NOW: ""What we will do for the next 3 hrs is give you all the developments & all the facts as they come in. Pomposity and punditry are not going to keep your family safe.. Science will. Facts will. Truth will."
A Coronavirus mission statement@NewDaypic.twitter.com/9iukqSt29m
— John Berman (@JohnBerman) March 16, 2020