Weekly Writers Round-Up: What COVID-19 Means for the Local Media, Chinese Trade, and 5G Wireless Technology

Each week, we’ll be featuring opinion pieces from the alumni and current participants of AF’s Writing Fellows Program. A few highlights from the past week are below. Do you dream of having bylines like these? Applications for the summer session are due Friday!

Emergency Small Business Loans are Leaving Out Local Media Outlets by Krisztina Pusok (Fall 2017) in RealClearPolicy
Countless small businesses are facing tough decisions as the Coronavirus pandemic stretches on. In an attempt to help struggling businesses that have been hit hard by social distancing measures, lawmakers launched the so-called Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) on April 3. But unclear terms and other glitches are making it hard for businesses to cash in a loan through the $349 billion stimulus, and cover payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities; some are even completely left out.

COVID-19 is having a dire impact not only on restaurants and hotels, but on small media outlets. A family-owned radio broadcaster, Gleason Radio Group, which has been serving rural Mainers for over 45 years, was forced to shut down its five stations completely at the end of March. Thousands of other local newspapers and local broadcast media outlets are expecting declines of over 50% in revenue, with many being forced to consider layoffs, furloughs, or pay cuts…

Keep Shoddy Chinese Medical Supplies Out by Jorge González-Gallarza Hernández (Summer 2018) in the Wall Street Journal
When you’re bleeding, everything looks like a bandage. Countries lacking resources to deal with Covid-19’s ravages are scrambling for devices and protective equipment to halt contagion and treat the ill. Too often, they’re ending up with faulty Chinese supplies that may cost lives. America needs to protect itself by pre-emptively banning their purchase before it’s too late…

No, 5G Isn’t Responsible For The Coronavirus by Eric Peterson (Fall 2014) in The American Conservative
With COVID-19 reshaping our world, there has been no end to the explanations as to where it came from. One recent conspiracy theory claiming 5G (short for fifth generation) is transmitting the coronavirus has spread almost as fast as the pandemic itself.

More than 50 cellphone masts in the UK have been set on fire as a result. Even celebrities and television hosts are jumping on the 5G conspiracy train. And these are by no means the first crazy theories that center on 5G technology. For example, the Russian government has been working tirelessly to prop up the notion that 5G causes cancer. Of course, these theories are absolutely false: the technology is perfectly safe. But social media companies are still having to work hard to combat the misinformation…