The New York Times looks at the conundrum of whether coverage exacerbates a crisis. An excerpt:
Without the news media the public would be dangerously unaware of the swine flu outbreak, but perhaps without saturation coverage on cable news networks and the velocity of information on the Internet, the public would not be so hysterical, medical professionals said.
“It’s a fine line between educating people and frightening them,” …
J-Source has extensive resources and information about “swine” flu coverage here.
The New York Times looks at the conundrum of whether coverage exacerbates a crisis. An excerpt:
Without the news media the public would be dangerously unaware of the swine flu outbreak, but perhaps without saturation coverage on cable news networks and the velocity of information on the Internet, the public would not be so hysterical, medical professionals said.
“It’s a fine line between educating people and frightening them,” …
J-Source has extensive resources and information about “swine” flu coverage here.
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Swine flu Catch 22
The New York Times looks at the conundrum of whether coverage exacerbates a crisis. An excerpt:
Without the news media the public would be dangerously unaware of the swine flu outbreak, but perhaps without saturation coverage on cable news networks and the velocity of information on the Internet, the public would not be so hysterical, medical professionals said.
“It’s a fine line between educating people and frightening them,” …
J-Source has extensive resources and information about “swine” flu coverage here.
The New York Times looks at the conundrum of whether coverage exacerbates a crisis. An excerpt:
Without the news media the public would be dangerously unaware of the swine flu outbreak, but perhaps without saturation coverage on cable news networks and the velocity of information on the Internet, the public would not be so hysterical, medical professionals said.
“It’s a fine line between educating people and frightening them,” …
J-Source has extensive resources and information about “swine” flu coverage here.
[node:ad]Deborah Jones
April 29, 2009
I’m a microbiologist and a
I’m a microbiologist and a semi-regular on the News at Noon in Ottawa (CTV Ottawa). I find that education is key but that it has be to be done in a way that maintains calm. This is not easily done.
I am being asked a number of questions on internet social media about the swine flu and to clear up facts and myths. To confound the issue, there seems to be a respiratory illness with potential pneumonia circulating in this city. It’s not swine flu but no one knows that.
I believe to promote education and not panic is difficult and requires a step back from the rush. For example, swine flu is a catchy name but it is not conducive to a real understanding of the virus. For me, discussing it as an H1N1 like you would say H5N1 seems to help people tremendously. People are used to H/N designations now.
To take it one step further, thanks to the swine flu name, Egypt is about to cull all of its pigs without any justification. Will that lead to panic or calm…from what I have been hearing by word of mouth, the former will be the case.
I confess that I am not a journalist but I do understand the nature of reporting stories and there are ways to make them both educational and entertaining. That mix, however, is hard and much like us in science, almost never is done perfectly.
Thanks for listening.
jason
http://www.twitter.com/JATetro