The fear of flu

The growing debate surrounding Swine Flu, or should I say Influenza A, or even H1N1, has turned to the media handling of this event, causing many to argue that it has been overhyped. So as consumers of media become more analytical and savvy, how do we know which media to trust and will this become a case of crying wolf? Many argue that other viruses such as SARS were hyped so the news is now falling on deaf ears. We’ve had the credit crunch spreading through the papers for months now; this is something new.

Maureen Taylor, previously the national medical reporter for CBC Television News, gave some timely advice to journalists in a recent article in which she advises against predicting outcomes. Radio 2 recently discussed the ‘worst case scenario’ and the Guardian ran the headline ‘Up to 1.2 million could be hospitalized in Britain in event of pandemic’. Hardly reassuring news and it is speculation not fact, as we continuously hear of the ‘possible’ pandemic. Thomas Abraham, spokesman for the WHO added: ‘We have consistently said a pandemic is imminent’ but the outcome is about as uncertain as the name we are meant to use for the virus, so why does the British media assume the worst? The fact is it makes a more dramatic story than the news that 27 people in Britain have the virus and seem to be okay.

The US government are now saying that it will be ‘less severe than feared’ yet despite having fewer cases and no deaths, we in Britain remain more cautious with Sir Liam Donaldson calling this ‘premature’. Perhaps it’s a cultural difference that we prefer to focus on the negative. Maureen writes that she doesn’t feel the Canadian media hyped SARS and it would be interesting to compare this with the reporting in the UK.

Our media industry analysis at Mediatrack for clients around the globe often calls for a comparison of markets and how the media report international events. What is clear about Swine Flu is that readers are losing a degree of faith and trust in the media they read, posing a bigger threat to the future of public relations, which is not to be sneezed at.

Crunch time for the media

In one BBC article a member of the public asked “How much do you think the BBC has created the ‘downturn’ and should they be allowed to make forecasts or just report the news?” This is a question many are asking as the crisis moves into the stage of apportioning blame. In America, a poll revealed that 77% blame the media for making the economic crisis worse by instilling fear into the public psyche. So is it partly a self-fulfilling prophecy as the media seeks to add drama to the headlines? Toni Muzi Falconi points out in his blog that we were warned and the BBC did report on 10th August 2007 that “problems in the mortgage market may prompt a global credit crunch”. He comments that the public didn’t want to believe that it would happen as we were enjoying the ‘boom’ too much, suggesting that the media were acting responsibly in forewarning us.

However the ensuing reporting has included much hyperbole and speculation, which does breed fear. You only have to witness the panic buying which goes on (‘Warning over petrol panic buying’) to know how panic spreads uncontrollably when fuelled by the media. One headline in the Daily Mail quoted Alan Greenspan that is was a ‘once-in-a-century credit tsunami’ for example. Aside from tone, perhaps it is simply the sheer volume of articles which have been linked to the crisis which adds up to an obsession with doom. Reports penetrate every aspect of life, from the potential effect on the divorce rates to scientific research to name two examples. PR firms are likely to come under fire for supplying journalists with such stories so it is more critical than ever for a responsible approach to be taken, avoiding public relations spin.

Yet figures showed in December that the recession is likely to be worse than expected, suggesting that the fear is justified and the predictions were not exaggerated. So the response from the BBC was ‘please don’t shoot the messenger’.

For some light relief in these gloomy days take a look at the Credit Crunch Times which puts a different spin on things.