Use of the word “unprecedented” is in overdrive these days, as many have complained, including the journalists who lean heavily on it when describing the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic. A quick turn around Roget’s Thesaurus doesn’t offer good alternatives. Phrases like “not seen before” and “unheard-of” are awkward, and using the word “novel” brings the writer or speaker up against the description of the virus modern humans had never experienced until now.
The amount of anxiety, danger, and suffering in the world now is not unprecedented: there are people still alive who suffered terribly during the last world war and the last viral plagues, as had so many throughout human history. Nevertheless, Covid-19 brings the spectre of ruin, illness, and imminent death to everyone on earth right now, including those whose jobs include researching, treating, preventing, ameliorating, interpreting, and reporting on the dire effects of the virus.
Many of us don’t fit into any of those categories, and we are doing our bit only by staying home and keeping ourselves to ourselves. The glimpse we are now allowed into journalists’ private lives—along with those of experts, pundits, officials, and politicians—as viewed on MSNBC, CNN, and the networks is unprecedented. Fox News studios are operating in a pre-coronavirus-three-anchors-one-foot-apart-on-a-sofa mode, but those who appear on MSNBC are interviewed and interviewing from home via Zoom or Skype, and while asking or answering, the television or live-streaming audience is checking out their home decor.
The civilian self-isolator has become a voyeur—a viewer in every sense; the professionals the spied upon. Mostly we see their home offices, situated in dens, basements or attics. Often we see their living rooms. Rarely do we see other rooms, although we now know that former Senator (D, MO) Claire McCaskill enjoys a cheerful and well-appointed kitchen. New York (D) Governor Cuomo makes frequent televised/streamed updates from the Executive Mansion, but not the private quarters. However, we have learned through these updates that he lives alone and has become annoyed with his dog in their isolation, but this page tells a different story: https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-wishes-first-dog-captain-happy-second-birthday (it is worth noting that every self-isolation order in the U.S., UK, Europe, and Japan allows time outdoors for dog walking).
Matching the color schemes or decor to now-familiar journalists’ homes would have been no easy feat, but now we can. Journalist Heidi Przybyla’s muted and elegant gray living room suits her perfectly, both her cool beauty and her sardonic undertone. Maryland (D) Senator Ben Cardin’s bookshelf is full of trinkets and dolls—a surprise. The bold colors of the paintings and pillows in journalist Kimberly Atkins’ living room suit her sparkle. Journalist Peter Baker, former VP Joe Biden, historian Jon Meacham, and many others are interviewed in front of large, overstuffed bookshelves in home studies or libraries.
We see their potted plants and flowers in vases. We hear their dogs bark (Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms did not crack), and the shushing of an unseen human.
The ear plugs and microphones used at home vary interestingly also. There are white and black versions planted in ears like the children of a marriage between an earring and a sci-fi hearing aid. Lower tech versions are embedded in the home computer, limiting the users mobility. Still others use lanyard combos of ear plugs and microphones that dangle and distract (users can’t keep their hands off of them).
MSNBC political show hosts are self-isolating too, but they have taken some token of the studio decor with them. Nicolle Wallace (full disclosure: we watch her late afternoon Deadline: White House, after spending part of the mornings plowing through 5 newspapers between us online) claims to sit in her home basement for the broadcasts, behind a desk and in front of a White House wallpaper backdrop. Chuck Todd (MTP Daily) also sits in front of Washington wallpaper, one sporting flowering cherry trees. Everyone, including Andrea Mitchell https://www.constancegemmett.com/what-would-andrea-mitchell-do/, broadcasts in front of a world map highlighting the Covid-19 hot spots in red and orange circles, large and small.
Still, there are reporters out and about, putting themselves at great risk: last week MSNBC’s Garrett Haake continued to roam the corridors of the Capital Building, as did members of Congress called to an in-person Coronavirus Relief Bill vote by Thomas Massie’s (R, KY) objection to safe distance voting. White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor presses forward with her questions, despite the president’s constant and abusive silencing—his unprecedented abuse of the media. Rehema Ellis shows us the worst coronavirus stories in New York City to highlight the high mortality rate and the danger to healthcare and funeral workers operating without adequate protective gear (nurses at Manhattan’s Mt. Sinai Hospital have taken to making gowns out of Hefty garbage bags—an unprecedented situation). She’s out in the streets showing us the truth of the situation, in stark contrast to the daily smoke of the happy version of events blown by the White House.
Reporters televised at home, in the streets, and in the halls of power seem to reveal more of their humanity during this plague time. It may be the viewer who imagines it (dogs barking and potted plants help), or that the vulnerability they feel is palpable and shared by us. The health care and emergency workers, now accused by President Trump of selling face masks to a “black market,” are the shining heroes, but we should be grateful to the “fake media,” our beleaguered doctors, governors, and mayors for telling the truth on a daily basis.
While quietly sitting alone in his room, Pascal wrote: “Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.”