Stephen Fry mocks America's conservative news media for coronavirus misinformation

British comedian Stephen Fry has taken aim at conservative news media for crippling the US's coronavirus pandemic response.

In a video for his start-up YouTube channel Pindex, Mr Fry said coronavirus "misinformation spread through a rich network, crippling America's defences".

"In the US, a poll found that 57 per cent of people with a conservative news diet believe that the coronavirus posed a similar risk to seasonal flu," Mr Fry said in the video.

A Gallup survey conducted from 17 March to 29 March found 28 per cent of people with a "liberal news diet" believed coronavirus posed a similar risk to the seasonal flu. Of those without a designated left or right-leaning news diet, 52 per cent of people believed it posed a similar risk to flu.

Writing in the New England Medical Journal on 26 March, the White House's coronavirus taskforce head and Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci, said "the case fatality rate may be considerably less than 1 per cent. This suggests that the overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza".

Mr Fry read the statistics over a selection of clips compiled by far-left activist group Now This and Comedy Central, highlighting preacher Rodney Howard-Browne and conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh, as well as Fox News figures Jeanine Pirro and Dr Marc Siegel.

In the Comedy Central compilation tweeted out by Trevor Noah, Ms Pirro calls coronavirus on 7 March "a virus, like the flu." Dr Siegel on 6 March said "at worst, worst-case scenario it could be the flu".

The clips were taken from early March, around the time the World Health Organisation tweeted out the similarities and differences between coronavirus and the flu and the WHO head Tedros Andhanom Ghebreyesus was encouraging people to "go outside and enjoy the fresh air".

The Centres for Disease Control on 6 March said that facemasks were not recommended for people who are well before reversing the recommendations on 13 April.

Mr Fry goes on to say that America is a hotbed of conspiracy theories with over 50 per cent of people believing in at least one, like the country of Finland not existing.

"In the US, fake news is more likely to be shared than real news. And a study found Fox News viewers to be less informed than people who don't watch any news," he said.

In reference to a 2012 study from Fairleigh Dickinson University, the survey of 1185 random subjects found people who watch no news at all can answer more questions about international current events than people who watch cable news, including Fox News and MSNBC.

The study found that NPR and Sunday morning political talk shows are the most informative news outlets, while exposure to partisan sources, such as Fox News and MSNBC, negatively impacting people's knowledge of current events.

The largest effect was that of Fox News, but when controlled for partisanship, MSNBC, Fox News and talk radio consumers answered more questions correctly when their political views aligned with those of the outlets they preferred.

"Ideological news sources, like Fox and MSNBC, are really just talking to one audience," political scientist and poll analyst Dan Cassino said of the results. "This is solid evidence that if you're not in that audience, you're not going to get anything out of watching them."