Tired Cliches Dominate Canadian Coverage Of COVID-19 Response In Russia - Embassy

The Canadian media are relying on tired clichés and dubious sources in its coverage of Russia's COVID-19 pandemic response, the press office of the Russian Embassy in Canada told Sputnik

TORONTO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th July, 2020) The Canadian media are relying on tired clichés and dubious sources in its coverage of Russia's COVID-19 pandemic response, the press office of the Russian Embassy in Canada told Sputnik.

Since the onset of the pandemic, Canadian media outlets have published dozens of articles on Russia's COVID-19 response with caricaturish Cold War era-like headlines such as "As COVID-19 cases spike in Russia, the Kremlin struggles to respond" and "'This situation is very scary': Coronavirus is disrupting Vladimir Putin's Russia."

The articles alleging the underreporting of coronavirus cases and deaths, unsubstantiated reports of shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and conspiracy theories have largely relied on dubious sources, including a self-proclaimed medical union, the embassy said.

While Canada's contribution to the dissemination of fakes does not stand out among other Western nations, the embassy points out that Canadian media often takes cues from US media when it comes to Russian coverage.

COLLECTIVE EFFORT NEEDED TO BATTLE VIRUS

Meanwhile, the Russian diplomatic mission, however, says that all countries have their issues - the coronavirus caught the world off guard - and that the international community must mount a collective effort to fight the disease.

"Russia consistently calls on all countries to unite in the face of a common foe and engage in joint efforts to combat the pandemic without resorting to cliches, making false accusations and trying to extract political benefits," the press office said while urging the public to be mindful and critical of the information they are receiving.

Claims made by Canadian media are disputed by not only Russia but also China. Chinese officials have repeatedly denounced biased reporting and debunked fake news about shipments of faulty PPE and the alleged underreporting of cases and deaths.

The recent study, conducted by the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, found that more than half (58 percent) of leading US media reports - reports that Canadian outlets reprint, cite and share sources with - on Russia's response to the pandemic are negative and only 4 percent are positive. The report said that Canadian coverage was 41% negative, with just 1 article out of 238 having a positive connotation.

The study found that media coverage in China, Italy and France featured the most positive reviews about Russia in the context of the pandemic. Overall, the finding revealed that of the analyzed reports, 66 percent were neutral, 26 percent negative and 8 percent positive. The United States, Germany (44 percent) and the United Kingdom (38 percent) are ranked as leaders of the negative coverage of Russia's response.

While Canada's media outlets and officials, albeit implicitly, have criticized the procurement efforts by a host of nations, medical professionals at home have belied a shortage of personal protective equipment.

Critics also point to the rapidly ascending level of Federal debt, the consequences of which are already being felt with Fitch stripping Canada of its perfect credit rating.

But Canada's biggest COVID-19 failure has been the humanitarian crisis playing out in long-term care facilities (LTCFs). The country's public health officials estimate that out of Canada's more than 8,700 coronavirus-related fatalities, more than 82 percent of them are linked to the LTCFs. A study conducted by the Canadian Institute for Health Information revealed that Canada's proportion of deaths in LTCFs related to COVID-19 is nearly double than the average in other OECD nations.