Coverage of Rand Paul's YouTube ban reveals the danger of media enforcing their own news narrative

When Sen. Rand Paul was suspended from YouTube for seven days this week, the social media company said he had violated the rules by saying that masks were ineffective against COVID-19.

A YouTube spokesperson told NBC News, "We removed content from Senator Paul’s channel for including claims that masks are ineffective in preventing the contraction or transmission of COVID-19, in accordance with our COVID-19 medical misinformation policies."

So there you have it: Masks are effective. The government says so. Rand Paul said the opposite and now must pay the price.

Check out the headline in the NBC story:

JUST IN: YouTube suspends Sen. Paul over a video falsely claiming masks are ineffective against Covid-19.

The lawmaker has described the suspension as "a badge of honor." https://t.co/iM9nehXQem — MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 11, 2021

"Falsely claiming."

Paul argues that his mask comments are supported by two peer reviewed articles he cites in the video.

But forget that for a moment. Journalist Glenn Greenwald immediately made the point that President Joe Biden's own former COVID-19 adviser basically has expressed the same view as Paul on mask efficiency.

Amazing: Google's YouTube suspended @RandPaul -- a US Senator and a medical doctor -- for disputing the efficacy of cloth masks.

JUST LAST WEEK: Biden's former COVID adviser, the epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, told @camanpour exactly the same thing.https://t.co/QUfjY1Ae6U — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 11, 2021

Better yet, here is former Biden health adviser, epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, on CNN saying exactly the same thing Paul got punished for by YouTube, particularly that only N95 masks work and cloth facial covering are not effective.

Here's Dr. Osterholm on CNN saying exactly the same thing that @RandPaul just got suspended from YouTube for saying: that cloth masks, as opposed to N95s, provide very, very little protection. Why can yo say this on CNN or PBS but not YouTube????pic.twitter.com/gHJodnERL7

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 11, 2021

"Many of the cloth coverings people wear are not very effective in reducing any of the virus movement, in or out," Osterholm told CNN. "Either you’re breathing out or you’re breathing in."

Olsterholm added, "We need to talk about better masking. We need to talk about N95 respirators, which would do a lot for both people who are not yet vaccinated or not previously infected. Protecting them as well as keeping others who might become infected, having been vaccinated from breathing out the virus."

In the now banned video, Paul said, “Most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work. They don’t prevent infection.” He also cited the superior efficiency of N95 masks.

Paul basically said exactly what Doctor Osterholm said on CNN.

Back to the NBC News headline, which assumes Paul is in the wrong and signals to the reader the same thing before they even read the article. Does the peer reviewed articles Paul cited matter? Does the advice former Biden Covid adviser Osterholm matter?

At all?

Is NBC going to update their story to show there is a credible, expert-backed view that runs counter to the CDC mask guidelines? Of course not.

Because the role of modern major media is not to challenge authorities and pursue truth, but to enforce the narratives and dictates of governments they favor.

Just look at the number of liberals cheering and justifying YouTube's suspension of Rand Paul for his comments on masks -- ones echoed by Biden's own former COVID adviser -- and you'll see why this faction is completely authoritarian.

They crave corporate speech policing. — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 11, 2021

This is not new. If the press had an adversarial relationship with former President Donald Trump (which is preferable), it now seeks to paint the Biden administration in the best light.

This dynamic is not always about Republican vs. Democrat. It can be ideological, but also what's best for business.

Over a decade ago, CNN's Jessica Yellen spilled the beans that her bosses at MSNBC during the run-up to the Iraq War in 2003 pushed her and other journalists to present the news narrative in ways that were friendly to the administration and mood of the country, post 9/11.

Yellin revealed to CNN in 2008, "The press corps was under enormous pressure from corporate executives, frankly, to make sure that this was a war presented in a way that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation and the president's high approval ratings."

"And my own experience at the White House was that the higher the president's approval ratings, the more pressure I had from news executives — and I was not at this network at the time — but the more pressure I had from news executives to put on positive stories about the president, I think over time...." Yellin added.

Politico noted, "But then a shocked Cooper jumped in, asking, 'You had pressure from news executives to put on positive stories about the president?"

"Not in that exact.... They wouldn't say it in that way, but they would edit my pieces," Yellin said. "They would push me in different directions. They would turn down stories that were more critical, and try to put on pieces that were more positive. Yes, that was my experience."

What is NBC News experience with this president as opposed to the last one? Again, will the outlet update their story to reflect Osterholm's CNN comments to show that there is a credentialed alternative view on mask efficiency?

No, they will instead they will instead just leave it as this: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and countless public health experts, including epidemiologists, have said since the start of the pandemic that masks protect against the spread of Covid."

One formerly high-ranking epidemiologist disagrees. So does one U.S. Senator who is also a doctor.

But when your job becomes creating and enforcing news narratives rather than just reporting the facts, truth and the honest pursuit of it no longer matter.

YouTube has suspended Republican Rand Paul over a video that lies about masks and COVID. https://t.co/NEJmKeEXGr

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 11, 2021