Maher Says Media’s ‘Panic Porn’ Coronavirus Coverage Could Create Trump Reelection Path

Bill Maher, host of HBO’s “Real Time,” on Friday blasted the media as purveyors of “panic porn” with their breathless daily coronavirus pandemic coverage.

The host urged all news outlets to “rein it in,” saying their coverage could be creating a path for President Donald Trump to win re-election.

“Now that we’re starting to see some hope in all of this, don’t hope-shame me!” Maher said. “You know, the problem with nonstop gloom and doom is that it gives Trump the chance to play the optimist. And optimists tend to win American elections. FDR has said, ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. You know, as full of sh*t as he is, I could see Trump riding that into a second term. And then there will be no more hope left for you to shame.”

Maher blamed the media for the “daily drumbeat of depression and terror veers into panic porn.”

“Enough with the ‘Life will never be the same’ headlines!” he said.

Maher, who describes himself as a libertarian, ripped the liberal Washington Post for a headline that said “It feels like a war zone,” a quote pulled from a shopper in a grocery store. He also blasted The New York Times for its headline, “Braced for Apocalyptic Surge, New York Avoids Worst, So Far.”

“This was an article about how much better the city was doing than expected,” Maher said. “You don’t have to put hot sauce on a jalapeño.”

The host cited another Times headline that said, “‘It’s Terrifying’: Millions More Out of Work,” with the quote coming from a Hollywood event planner.

“What the f*ck is ‘It’s terrifying’ doing in a headline?” Maher asked. “How about this: Just tell me millions are out of work without the flashlight under the chin and I’ll decide how I feel about it.”

The media is wading into new waters, he said.

“There was never headlines like this before. There was no, ‘It’s Terrifying: Planes Hit World Trade Center.’ There was no, ‘It’s Sad’: Titanic Sinks After Hitting Iceberg.”

Maher also hit the media for being “obsessed” with the number of people who have died from COVID-19 while ignoring the far higher death toll from the flu last  year.

“So all of this social distancing did some good. Can I be happy about that?” Maher complained. “Death is terrible, of course, no matter how it comes … but giving the proper perspective isn’t a cover-up of the truth, it is the truth. Sudden dramatic deaths like plane crashes, shark attacks, tornadoes, mass shootings, terrorism, awful as they are, kill far less than seasonal flu. Even hospital-acquired infections may very well kill more people than the coronavirus — 99,000 of them last year! Fifty-thousand died from nephritis last year and I don’t even know what that is!”

Then the HBO host did something he doesn’t often do: He warned the media that they are making Trump appear correct in his charges against them.

“We need the news to calm down and treat us like adults,” he told the media. “Trump calls you ‘fake news,’ don’t make him be right.”