Pop Quiz: You are an Arizona Republic Reporter looking to explain the recent surge in COVID19 cases and you see this paragraph in a Los Angeles Times article.
In what’s considered the first systematic look at the question, a team of economists determined that only one of 13 cities involved in the earliest wave of protests after Memorial Day had an increase that would fit the pattern.
The article reveals that the city is Phoenix.
The article provides a link to the underlying study which includes this graph.
Wow. What a lucky find. The LA Times is a credible source and they describe the study as "the first systematic look at the question". The study singles out Maricopa County and provides graphic evidence.
Here's the quiz: What's the Lede paragraph of your article?
Here's what the Republic's Rachel Leingang wrote.
No single activity or one location caused Arizona's COVID-19 surge, health officials say.
What? That's the opposite of what the study and the LA Times said.
Rachel had the story and she buried it.
Meanwhile, checkout one of her recent tweets.
Rachel is looking for evidence that the Trump rally contributed to the surge. That's the story that she WANTS to write, but the county didn't bite.
She had evidence that the protests caused the surge and she actively covered it up. Then she looked for evidence that the Trump Rally caused the surge but she couldn't find it. So the official position of the Republic is still "We don't know what caused the surge."
Meanwhile, the Republic columnists are still claiming that Ducey caused the surge by opening up too early. This theory doesn't fit the timeline and it conflicts with the "first systematic look at the question" but the theory fits the narrative that Rachel and her fellow travelers want to advance.
Because, you know, journalism.