Role of media on an issue of coronavirus?
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The WHO announced a ‘mystery pneumonia’ on 31 December 2019. Since then the virus has been identified (SARS-CoV-2), the disease named (COVID-19), and there has been global spread, with cases identified in 72 countries (as of 3 March 2020) and tens of thousands of people testing positive for the virus.
The media have been following every step of this journey – with multiple stories, incessant headlines and continuous updates across the past few weeks. Here, I take a look at some of the challenges that have faced journalists during the COVID-19 outbreak and how the media can play a role in containing COVID-19 and, potentially, saving lives.
Moving facts
It has been approximately 10 weeks since the COVID-19 outbreak was first reported, and when you compare the amount known about the virus when it first emerged (nothing!) to the amount known now, including its clinical progression and the at-risk demographics – it is truly remarkable.
However, this constant barrage of new information, new cases and new advice has been challenging to keep up with. It not only makes the story difficult to keep up with from a journalist’s perspective, it makes it confusing for anyone trying to follow the story. A news piece you read one day could be entirely out-of-date by the next morning, and this has meant there have been many questions from the public surrounding the outbreak and the virus. In addition, as more information has emerged over the past weeks, experts and public health officials have revised their opinions, advice and recommendations in line with this, and it has been suggested that these updates have made it hard to build trust.
In a webinar hosted by representatives from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Geneva, Switzerland), BBC Media Action (London, UK), Internews (CA, USA) and the WHO it was discussed that journalists and media organizations should do their utmost to keep up to date with the outbreak using reliable information from respective health departments and the WHO, and that they should both fact- and reality-check information in order to remain a trusted source.
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