PBS Media Bias for Past 90 Days

WATCH LIVE: Biden, Harris commemorate 50 million COVID-19 vaccine shots

Health

The vaccines that have been approved for emergency use in the U.S. — produced by Pfizer and Moderna — require two shots. Johnson & Johnson has developed a single-dose shot that the FDA will consider for Emergency Use Authorization on Friday. On Wednesday the FDA’s scientists concluded that the J&J vaccine is about 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19, and about 85% effective against the most serious illness.
PBS     Feb 25, 2021

Armenian prime minister slams 'coup attempt' as political tensions rise

Politics

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia’s prime minister accused top military officers on Thursday of attempting a coup after they demanded he step down, adding fuel to months of protests calling for his resignation following the country’s defeat in a conflict with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
PBS     Feb 25, 2021

Get whatever COVID-19 vaccine is available, Fauci says

Health

Dr. Anthony Fauci says it's a race "between the virus and getting vaccines into people" and "the longer one waits not getting vaccinated, the better chance the virus has to get a variant or a mutation."
PBS     Feb 25, 2021

U.S. jobless claims still high at 730,000 but fewest in 3 months

Jobless claims declined by 111,000 from the previous week to a seasonally adjusted 730,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. It is the lowest figure since late November and the sharpest one-week decline since August. Still, before the virus erupted in the United States last March, weekly applications for unemployment benefits had never topped 700,000.
PBS     Feb 25, 2021

WATCH LIVE: Surgeon general, assistant HHS secretary nominees testify before Senate

Politics

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Feb. 25 will consider the nominations of Vivek Murthy for U.S. Surgeon General and Dr. Rachel Levine for assistant secretary of Health and Human Services.
PBS     Feb 25, 2021

Mars rover's giant parachute carried secret message

Science

Systems engineer Ian Clark used a binary code to spell out “Dare Mighty Things” in the orange and white strips of the 70-foot (21-meter) parachute. He also included the GPS coordinates for the mission’s headquarters at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
PBS     Feb 25, 2021

WATCH LIVE: House appropriations hearing on Jan. 6 attack and Capitol security failures

WASHINGTON (AP) — Capitol Police knew armed extremists were primed for violence at the iconic building on Jan. 6 and even provided officers with assault rifles to protect lawmakers, the acting chief acknowledged Wednesday. But the wild invasion of the Capitol was far worse than police expected, leaving them unprepared to fight it off.
PBS     Feb 25, 2021

Amid COVID-19 pandemic, flu has virtually disappeared in the U.S.

12k 🔥       Health

Experts say that measures put in place to fend off the coronavirus — mask wearing, social distancing and virtual schooling — were a big factor in preventing a “twindemic” of flu and COVID-19. A push to get more people vaccinated against flu probably helped, too, as did fewer people traveling, they say.
PBS     Feb 25, 2021

Military begins delivering vaccines in Texas, New York

Health

The U.S. military is beginning to deliver shots at coronavirus vaccination centers in Texas and New York and says service members will start staffing four centers in Florida and one in Philadelphia next week.
PBS     Feb 25, 2021

Facebook says it will pay $1 billion over 3 years to news industry

News companies want Google and Facebook to pay for the news that appears on their platforms. Governments in Europe and Australia are increasingly sympathetic to this point of view. The two tech companies suck up the majority of U.S. digital advertising dollars, which — among other problems — has hurt publishers.
PBS     Feb 25, 2021

News Wrap: FDA reports Johnson & Johnson vaccine is effective against COVID symptoms

In our news wrap Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration reported Johnson & Johnson's COVID vaccine is 66-percent effective against moderate and severe symptoms, President Biden's attempt to halt most immigrant deportations for 100 days is on hold, and a former staffer for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo escalates her claims of sexual assault.
PBS     Feb 24, 2021

House nears vote on Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan

It's a busy week on Capitol Hill, with a full slate of confirmation hearings on President Biden's nominees and a possible House vote on the COVID economic-relief plan. Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.
PBS     Feb 24, 2021

Sen. Jon Tester on COVID relief, minimum wage and Biden's Cabinet nominees

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With the Senate evenly split 50-50, moderate senators have become key to getting President Biden's COVID bill passed and his Cabinet nominees approved. Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat from Montana, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.
PBS     Feb 24, 2021

Global disparities highlighted by uneven access to COVID vaccines

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The West African country of Ghana on Wednesday became the first nation to receive a delivery of COVID-19 vaccines through a global initiative called COVAX, which aims to give more equitable access to the vaccine. Nick Schifrin reports and speaks to Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, medical director of the special pathogens unit at Boston Medical Center, to learn more about global inequities.
PBS     Feb 24, 2021

With a history of abuse in American medicine, Black patients struggle for equal access

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Black Americans have historically faced discrimination and even abuse by medical professionals, issues that have again come to the forefront during the pandemic. We here from Americans who have directly experienced discrimination, and Yamiche Alcindor speaks with Dr. Vanessa Northington Gamble, a professor of medical humanities at George Washington University, to discuss this painful legacy.
PBS     Feb 24, 2021

After 10 years of civil war, COVID-19 takes hold in Syrian opposition's last stronghold

As the 10-year anniversary of the civil war in Syria looms and fighting rages on in the hard-hit city of Idlib, Syria, doctors contending with the pandemic are stretched to their limits. In the last three months, COVID-19 infection rates in the Syrian opposition's final stronghold have increased more than 50 percent, while the virus has been targeting the most vulnerable. Ali Rogin reports.
PBS     Feb 24, 2021

Boston restores monument to Black Civil War troops

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In a time when statues and monuments around the country are being removed for what they represent, the Shaw Memorial in Boston is receiving attention of a different sort. It is being fully restored, with pride that the monument depicting Black soldiers marching off to battle in the civil war, stands the test of time. Special correspondent Jared Bowen of GBH Boston reports.
PBS     Feb 24, 2021

During Black History Month, students reflect on their modern-day heroes

Black History Month expands students' understanding of the Black experience in American history. But one teacher in Akron, Ohio wanted her students to see that Black history isn't something that happened in the past, it happens every single day through each of them. She worked with our Student Reporting Labs program to record these reflections from students.
PBS     Feb 24, 2021