The media has badly misled the public over the threat of swine flu in order to gain more readers and cash in on nationwide panic. That is the headline finding of research which suggests 91 per cent of us believe newspapers and television news channels have exaggerated the nature of the problem for their own financial gain.
Only two per cent of respondents believe the media was interested in establishing a balanced view of the truth behind the illness and the threat it really posed.
As for where scaremongering was the greatest, television news was blamed by 44 per cent of respondents, while 54 per cent suggested our newspapers had been most culpable. Only two per cent of respondents identified social networks such as Twitter, despite the media’s own concerns about the Twitter effect on the spread of panic.
In terms of individual outlets, Sky News fared worst and was chosen by 36 per cent of respondents as the source of the greatest hype around the illness. Second was The Sun newspaper (20.5 per cent) followed by The Daily Mail (18 per cent) and the BBC (13.5 per cent).
Furthermore, regarding experts brought forward to comment on swine flu, 80 per cent of respondents said they believe commentators were often chosen because they were willing to confirm the exaggerated level of threat, and not because of their qualification to speak on the subject.
Asked for their views on the issue, one respondent said the past few weeks “must have been scary for those who believe what they read”.
Another added: “It has given the press something other than the global economic crisis to write about. And now it's the MP’s expenses and there’s not a sniffle of swine flu in the news.”
Swine flu in the media: The highlights
- On 24 April Reuters broke the news that a new strain of flu had been identified in Mexico. The report cited unnamed experts who said the H1N1 strain “could spark a pandemic that could kill millions”.
- On 27 April the media was widely reporting the death toll from swine flu stood at 149 in Mexico from where it was predicted it would spread. And fear, if not the actual disease, was already spreading across the world “like a Mexican wave” according to The Times. Meanwhile, other papers featured individuals posed at airports wearing facemasks to protect them from the contagion and Sky News inconclusively questioned whether the government could deal with a pandemic.
- By 29 April The Guardian was reporting the “crisis” had “exploded” and the death toll stood at 159. The same day a headline in The Express claimed 40 per cent of the UK population – approximately 24 million people – may come down with the deadly disease. The Daily Star added that 750,000 of those victims could well perish.
- By 30 April the death toll in Mexico hit 176, according to The Daily Mail. This despite claims from the Mexican government that the actual figure was just eight.
- By 11 May, more than two weeks since the threat of pandemic was recognised, the death toll in Mexico had dropped dramatically to just 56, well below the expected number of seasonal influenza-related deaths.
- In the UK to date, nobody, let alone 750,000 people, has died from the illness. The few cases which have been confirmed, but which number significantly fewer than 24 million, have seen people suffer “mild cold-like symptoms”. But still the scare stories don’t go away.
- On 13 May The Sun reported ‘Swine flu to hit two billion’ – or a third of the world’s population.
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1 comments:
That story in The Sun merely gives the oxygen of publicity to one Professor Neil Ferguson.
Who he? Well his past work has seen him study Mad Cow Disease and SARS. Of course what they have in common with Swine Flu is that they too were examples of killer illnesses trumped up by academics who spoonfed a dumb media their scaremongering in the interests of self-promotion.
The media could no doubt throw up their hands and say 'we're just reporting what we're told - he was a professor and everything' but they have a duty of responsibility (or should have) to question what they are told. These academics need to raise their profile as much as anybody else in a crowded market.
Therefore what are they really going to say if The Sun asks? If they had an ounce of credibility they would talk down the risk, but clearly this chap doesn't!
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