Media top headlines January 17
In media news today, a Utah newspaper calls for the National Guard to prevent the unvaccinated from going anywhere, lawmakers call on NBC to cover human rights protests during the Winter Olympics in China, and CNN frets about Biden's press treatment.
The Washington Post editorial board made it clear Sunday it was not in line with the Supreme Court's decision last week to block President Biden's vaccine mandate for businesses with more than 100 employees.
In a Sunday editorial, the liberal paper lamented that fewer people would face mandates to get vaccinated following the decision and called on states and businesses to implement their own mandates to make up for lack of a federal one.
It also alternatively called on Congress to authorize federal vaccine mandates.
"The Supreme Court’s ruling that President Biden’s vaccine mandate was an overreach, beyond the powers given to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration by Congress, should be an impetus for others who do have the authority to push ahead with vaccine mandates," the board wrote.
"Congress ought to explicitly authorize federal vaccine mandates. It’s now clear, from a year’s experience, that vaccines prevent serious disease, and mandates work to get more people vaccinated," it added.
The nation's highest court angered liberals across the country with its decision last Thursday to block the mandate, ruling that the coronavirus was not an occupational hazard, but rather a "universal risk." It did, however, leave in place the mandate for healthcare workers in facilities receiving funding from Medicare and Medicaid.
A lone protester stands outside the U.S. Supreme Court as it hears arguments against the Biden administration's nationwide vaccine-or-testing COVID-19 mandates, in Washington, U.S., January 7, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)
SUPREME COURT SAVES AMERICANS FROM BIDEN COVID VACCINE MANDATE—BUT THE FIGHT IS NOT OVER
"The question that follows is how to cope with a raging pandemic within the court’s legal boundaries. Unfortunately, the decision will mean fewer people will face mandates to get vaccinated," the board wrote. "The court does not take biology into account, but biology also does not take the court into account — the virus will infect every person it can, whether in the workplace or the home."
Citing United Airlines, the board argued that companies' decisions to require their employees to be vaccinated was a success and resulted in fewer COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths. It called on other companies to follow suit.
It also called on states, who it argued had "extensive authority over public health," to back mandates, and called for the implementation of a vaccine requirement to board all domestic airline flights.
The Supreme Court issued mixed rulings Thursday in a pair of cases challenging Biden administration COVID-19 vaccine mandates, allowing the requirement for certain health care workers to go into effect while blocking enforcement of a mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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"Mr. Biden’s federal mandate prodded many companies to begin to comply, so the effort was worthwhile," the board wrote. "Nothing would prevent him from using the bully pulpit — as he has — to champion vaccination as the most important tool against the virus."
"The vaccines are safe, effective, free and plentiful; that is a blessing that many other countries can only dream about. The Supreme Court’s ruling should not impede a continued push by those who can to get vaccinated and save lives," it added.
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