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The News Fix

One year ago, Americans were only just beginning to understand the nature of the novel coronavirus and how it spreads. Public health officials were teaching us about “social distancing” and advising us to wash our hands and not touch our faces (though some had trouble following their own advice). It was still an open question whether or not the general public should wear protective face coverings, and the people in charge of America’s pandemic response often contradicted each other.

We’re still getting mixed signals from leadership. Studies have shown that masks work in slowing the spread of COVID-19, but mask mandates still vary widely from state to state. We know it’s unsafe to be indoors with large groups of people, but local rules differ on school closures, indoor dining and sports. And while there’s been remarkable progress in developing and manufacturing vaccines, their distribution has become bizarrely complex. Vaccine priority — whether by age, industry or preexisting health condition — varies from one jurisdiction to the next.

With such a wide range of oversight, each of us still faces our own personal decisions on what we feel is safe for ourselves and our communities. There’s no single, definitive set of guidelines. But there is this: growing numbers of people getting vaccinated and photo evidence of shots going into arms. This week Dolly Parton, who funded research that led to the development of Moderna’s vaccine, posted on Twitter that she’d received “a dose of her own medicine.”

A portrait of jazz singer Billie Holiday on display in the Jazz Lobby at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History October 17, 2018.

Alex Wong / Getty Images

Smart In a Shot

The media industry is reckoning with the ways it portrayed female celebrities in the pre-social media era. Recent documentaries about Whitney Houston and Britney Spears, along with Monica Lewinsky’s forthcoming film “15 Minutes of Shame,” are now attempting to recast the images of women — shaped largely by men — that defined popular culture in the 1990s and early 2000s. In the New York Times, writer Jessica Bennett describes “a litany” of female icons from that era whose misfortunes, in hindsight, implicate the scandal-driven media machine: Janet Jackson, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Brandy.

Another new biopic, out this month, shows that the pattern goes back much further. “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” is one of several films that have sought to tell the jazz singer’s story. But as this review in The Undefeated points out, the films have all leaned into sensationalizing her drug use and violent relationships with men rather than exploring the experiences that set her on such a tortured path. Critic Soraya Nadia McDonald writes that portrayals of Holiday, like much of the media’s coverage of female icons, follow a “cruel blueprint.” American society “consumes them, uses them up, demands they reflect grand, sexist delusions of goodness and propriety. When they inevitably fail to satisfy this appetite, they are blamed, shamed and mocked for their troubles.”

The Numbers

People aren’t really gathering ‘round the television for big events like awards shows and playoff sports these days.

63%

That’s how much viewership for Sunday’s Golden Globes award show declined from last year’s broadcast. Only 6.9 million viewers tuned in. Ratings for the NBA Finals, the NHL finals, the Kentucky Derby and the Super Bowl also plummeted during the pandemic.

5

Streaming services have surged in popularity over the past year, and more than three-quarters of U.S. consumers subscribe to at least one, according to a recent survey. In fact, American subscribers now maintain an average of five streaming services — up from three last year.

$1 billion

Media companies are trying to find the sweet spot, bringing the most popular content to its biggest audience — and Amazon is about to make a big bet on sports. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the e-commerce giant might pay as much as $1 billion a year for the exclusive rights to stream the NFL’s Thursday night games on Prime Video. (It’s a bold move, given that Thursday games have been a money-loser for television networks in recent years.)

This week on the podcast

Empty offices at the New York Salesforce Tower in New York October 15, 2020.

Timothy A. Clary / AFP via Getty Images

Episode 380: People, at scale

We talk with a producer from "The Uncertain Hour," which is spending this season looking at the changing nature of employment. (Listening time, 27:26)

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None of us is as smart as all of us

Tell us what’s making you smarter at smarter@marketplace.org. We'd love to include your recommendation in a future newsletter.

What’s up with state budgets?

“Make Me Smart” writer Erica Phillips (that’s me!) recommends this article in The New York Times, which examines how the COVID economy has affected state budgets. A year ago the forecasts were grim, but a $600-a-week federal boost to individual unemployment benefits helped states collect more in sales tax revenue — keeping many budgets around where they were before the pandemic.

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“It can't be in vain”

“Make Me Smart” producer Marissa Cabrera recommends this video from the Los Angeles Times about mariachis, whose work has shifted during the pandemic. Rather than playing parties and weddings, they’re performing more at funerals. “Clearly the pandemic has changed us,” says performer Maricela Martinez.

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A bit of perspective

Listener George M. recommends the Australian comic strip “First Dog on the Moon,” a humorous take on the dysfunctional aspects of that country’s politics. “First Doggie's commentary proves that they're just as insane there as we are here,” George says. “It’s comforting to know that there are places on the planet that are just as weird.”

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