There are some very good reasons that I warn readers to “Always assume that ‘fact-checkers’ are trying to bullshit you.” The most important of which is the truth demonstrated time and again: that “fact-checkers” are in reality ‘narrative-confirmation machines’.
To see the truth of that in action, just consider this 2021 Newshub ‘fact check’ of a Voices for Freedom flyer. With not just the $55m of PIJF funding at stake, but the sweet, sweet river of government advertising, Newshub appears to have engaged in a systematic campaign of telling untruths for power.
Jacinda Ardern may have declared, with papal arrogance, that the government and its bought-and-paid-for media were “your single source of truth”, but the record shows the diametric opposite to be true.
Let’s just consider a few of the claims Newshub ‘fact-checked’.
“Vaccine companies are exempt from ALL liability.”
Alison Campbell, a biological sciences lecturer and science educator at the University of Waikato, told Newshub this claim is misleading because our no-fault system of covering injury liability through ACC covers all vaccines, not just those developed for Covid-19.
No, they are exempt. In the case of Covid vaccines specifically: The government has granted the Covid-19 vaccine suppliers Pfizer and BioNTech indemnity from any claims that may arise from use of the vaccine […] Indemnity may also be granted to the other suppliers of Covid-19 vaccines.
“The vaccine has not been shown to stop you catching SARS-CoV-2 or passing it on to others.”
“There’s actually quite a lot of data now showing they do, and they’re actually really effective,” said Michael Plank, a disease modelling expert at the University of Canterbury and research centre Te Punaha Matatini.
Both Dr Petousis-Harris and Dr Campbell also said it’s false.
Except that we knew even at the time that it was true. The Covid-19 vaccine does not prevent Covid-19, wrote Medical News Today, five months before Newshub’s ‘fact-check’. A Lancet review later cited multiple studies that found no difference in viral load between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.
This all also proves that VFF’s next claim, “The only reason given to take the vaccine is that it might reduce symptoms,” is also true. The ‘fact check’ that “Taking the vaccine protects not only you but also those around you and the general community,” is blatantly false.
“Deaths and cases of serious injury are being reported around the world at an alarming rate!”
“Given that there have been hundreds of millions of vaccine doses administered to date, serious adverse events have occurred at very low frequency.”
In fact, serious adverse events have been reported at far higher rates for Covid vaccines than almost any other vaccine. Governments like Australia are already setting up compensation schemes for those affected. Nearly 10,000 cases of hospitalisation for severe vaccine injury were registered in Australia, nearly 1,000 are already lined up for a compensation payout.
Perhaps that’s not alarming to Newshub, but I’m sure many would disagree.
“There’s no evidence that lockdowns work to reduce overall mortality in a population.”
Again, absolutely true. It was evident from the earliest months of the pandemic, as researchers began to compare data from US states which locked down or didn’t. Months before Newshub’s ‘fact-check’, a Frontiers in Public Health study found that “Stringency of the measures settled to fight pandemia, including lockdown, did not appear to be linked with death rate.” A Lancet study from the same time found that “Rapid border closures, full lockdowns and wide-spread testing were not associated with Covid-19 mortality per million people.”
As the pandemic played out, the evidence only became clearer – and the narrative peddlers dug their heads further in the sand.
“Typical mask wearing does not reduce SARS-CoV-2 infection rates (Covid-19).”
Dr Campbell said studies have shown reduction in transmission in both the lab and real-world settings, when people actually wear masks properly and when they should.
This is, again, a complete lie, coupled with a nasty dose of misdirection. Note that VFF’s flyer said typical mask wearing, not “when people actually wear masks properly and when they should”. A Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy meta-study from April 2020 found that “Masks-for-all for Covid-19 not based on sound data”. A post-pandemic review from the gold-standard Cochrane Collaboration found that there was no evidence that wearing either cloth masks or even N-95/P2 respirators made any difference in how many people catch a flu-like illness or respiratory illness.
“The average age of death attributed to Covid-19 is higher than the regular average age of death.”
“This is just deflection,” said Dr Campbell.
In other words, it’s 100 per cent true, but the Podium of Truth doesn’t want to discuss it.
“Asymptomatic people are not established to be significant transmitters of infection.”
They have been.
Dr Campbell pointed to two peer-reviewed studies (here and here), one of which found “a large number of asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 are in the community seeding potential outbreaks”, and the other finding “asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 carriers are to be considered as infectious as symptomatic individuals”.
Newshub
Again, VFF were right, and the Podium of Truth was lying. While some degree of asymptomatic spread may have occurred, studies show that it was at worst very low. An Australian review estimated perhaps 17 per cent of cases were asymptomatic. Another study found that “asymptomatic spread is unlikely to be a major driver of clusters or community transmission of infection”.
A CDC study went even further: “little to no transmission occurred from asymptomatic case-patients”.
Again, all these studies were published before Newshub’s ‘fact-check’, so it’s not even a case of ‘things that didn’t age well’: the Podium of Truth was spouting known lies.
The above are just a sample of the more egregious lies told by so-called ‘fact-checkers’. While other VFF’s claims may have been provisional or unproven at the time, the stark fact remains: the real sources of serious and harmful disinformation came, and are still coming, from the very people demanding that you trust them. The very people claiming to combat “harmful misinformation” are in fact the worst purveyors of it.
