Journalists slam ‘petty, petulant’ Marco Rubio for claiming the media ‘can’t contain their glee’ over coronavirus pandemic

From CNN and MSNBC to the New York Times and the Washington Post to Axios, countless journalists in the United States have been working tirelessly to bring accurate, up-to-date information on the coronavirus pandemic to the public. But as Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida sees it, journalists aren’t informing the public — they are celebrating the crisis. And a long list of journalists, in response, have been lambasting the Florida Republican on Twitter for his boneheaded attack.

On Sunday, March 29, Rubio tweeted, “Some in our media can’t contain their glee & delight in reporting that the U.S. has more #CoronaVirus cases than #China Beyond being grotesque, its bad journalism We have NO IDEA how many cases China really has but without any doubt its significantly more than why they admit to.”

Responses on Twitter have been numerous. MSNBC’s Katy Tur reminded Rubio, “We have colleagues who have died” — including longtime employee NBC News employee Larry Edgeworth, who succumbed to the disease earlier this month at the age of 61. And CBS News’ Grace Segers asserted, “CBS News employees literally just found out today that one of our colleagues had died from the virus. Journalists are among the sick and dying, just like thousands of other Americans.” Continue reading.