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Something’s making the media ill By Michael C. Guilmette Jr. Originally published on May 7, 2009, in the Connersville News-Examiner. I have trekked to Michigan twice in the last two weeks. The first trip was the long haul back home to Sault Ste. Marie in the Upper Peninsula.
Most of the snow has melted, but there were enough piles of the white stuff large enough to ensure snow will last well into May. Other than the evergreen trees, not much had started to green yet, and temperatures were still dipping into the 30s — which was a little disconcerting to see on a day when the temperature in southern Indiana was pushing 80. When you grow up north of the 45th parallel, you get used to seeing spring come later. The trip last week, however, was different. Instead of the long trip to the Soo, I made a relatively shorter trip to Niles, Mich., which is on the Indiana border across the line from South Bend, Ind. That trip was for the laborious task of clearing out the storage space I rented to hold the stuff I couldn’t pack into my car when I left there last year. Since I was going to be crawling around in a small, enclosed, rodent-infested space, I figured it would be prudent to protect myself. So, I stopped by the local Wal-Mart to buy a facemask, where I found plenty available. This was actually surprising, considering where I was and what I had heard on the radio the night before. Niles is so close to South Bend that it’s practically a suburb, and South Bend is the location of the first confirmed case of the dreaded swine flu in Indiana. Last Wednesday, health officials confirmed a student at South Bend’s prestigious University of Notre Dame had contracted the illness. In fact, the Associated Press article that reported the case also said the student “has fully recovered and is in good health” after being sick the week before. I took this to mean everything was OK. The media, however, was not about to let a good panic go to waste. Beginning with the radio spots I heard on the South Bend stations, I was apparently incorrect to assume there was no danger. I was told that I should be hoarding a two-week supply of food, water, prescription medication, baby formula and other household necessities. Well, the spot actually said “store” and not “hoard,” but I didn’t see a significant difference between the two words in this instance. Granted, the prospect of a new influenza pandemic is frightening, given that the avian flu was marching across the globe killing untold numbers of birds — and 257 humans. The media dutifully reported that yes, the number of human cases was very small, and there had not been any reported cases of the avian flu spreading from person to person, but the media also assured us that it would only take a minor mutation to turn the avian flu into one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Now that the swine flu — which is largely different from the avian flu — has burst onto the scene, the media has been quick to tally the number of cases each day. Just Tuesday, the media reported the first death in the U.S. of an American who had been diagnosed with swine flu — however, as of Wednesday, health officials had not confirmed it was the flu that killed the Texas woman. The death of the young mother is tragic, and the media is gleaning out as much news about the case as they can. However, to put it in perspective, this case is still 35,999 deaths short of the average number of people who die during a typical flu season, according to White House data. Prominent members of government have also fanned the flames. Last week during a Joe Biden sighting, the vice president said he wouldn’t advise his family to be in enclosed spaces, such as cars, mass transit or aircraft, with other people during this outbreak. Biden’s remarks made a bit of a splash, but truth be told, the media didn’t need him. Catastrophe gives the media the opportunity to break out of the normal mode of reporting, allowing the different outlets to use oversized headlines, flashy graphics and other gimmicks use to capture the public’s attention. There are those who are eager to write “pandemic” in big block letters or report from outside a quarantine center hoping to film distant glimpses of people in HAZMAT suits. This kind of reporting, however, can quickly go beyond the essential role of spreading public awareness, ultimately causing problems that can actually exacerbate the situation. David P. Fidler, the James Louis Calamaras Professor of Law at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, said Tuesday the reporting of swine flu is causing people to overreact. "We have seen irrational responses to public health warnings about Influenza A (H1N1), whether we have the ‘worried well’ burdening emergency rooms or countries banning the importation of pork products from countries affected by the new virus,” Fidler said. “Some overreaction is anticipated — and sometimes unavoidable — when societies deal with serious infectious disease threats, because responses to such threats often occur in a context of great uncertainty, as has been the case with this new influenza virus.” Fidler goes on to say he would rather see too much debate about the response as opposed to seeing thousands killed by “an influenza virus we did not fear enough.” Fidler’s words are reasonable and pragmatic, but we are left to wonder if all the media hype may actually start to desensitize people to the issue, causing the not to fear a legitimate illness. So far, there haven’t been any swine flu cases reported in the Upper Peninsula, but I don’t think I’ll go back there to hunker down and ride out a possible pandemic. There are still plenty of cases of media hype there. • Guilmette is managing editor of the News-Examiner. He may be contacted at mguilmette@newsexaminer.com. |
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Copyright © 2009, Michael C. Guilmette Jr. |
Despite driving eight hours straight to get there and only being there two day, the trip was well worth it. It gave me an opportunity to see my father (whose name should be obvious) and my family and friends.
