# 451
Someday's, I think I might be too hard on the press. I read newspaper stories, or watch a rare newscast, about the spread of the H5N1 virus and I cringe. Apparently, I'm not alone.
Today, a spokesperson from the WHO called upon the press to boost coverage on the subject, but to to avoid spreading panic and misinformation.
While this rebuke was apparently aimed largely at the Arab media, the press in general should take note.
This, from Reuters.
Don't spread panic about bird flu, WHO urges media
CAIRO (Reuters) - The United Nations health agency urged local and international media on Tuesday to boost coverage of bird flu and avoid misleading information about the disease.
"We are appealing to the media to make people more aware. We need awareness, not panic," said Ibrahim el-Kerdany, a World Health Organization (WHO) regional media adviser.
"Just this morning on one of the television stations we saw wrong messages being transmitted, people talking about vaccines when there are no yet available. The vaccines are for birds not for humans," he told reporters.
Sometimes, as in the tabloid reporting we've seen following the Suffolk outbreak, the reporting has been awful. On Feb 4th, the Daily Mirror's Headline read, "We may Die . . . Save us' in their report on poultry workers at the Bernard Matthews facility.
I'm sure it sold a lot of papers.
It happens nearly every day. I see Tamiflu referred to as a `vaccine'. Or some reporter dredges up the hoary old `2 to 7 million people could die, worldwide in a pandemic', which was promulgated back in 2005 as a `best case' scenario.
Part of the problem is, reporters rarely ask questions. They accept, and print pretty much whatever they are told on the subject. If one official says `2 to 7 million deaths' and another says `160 million deaths', no one seems to bother to ask why the discrepancy?
Last month, a TV station here in the US (WIRF TV 23 Freeport/Rockford, Illinois’ website) ran a breathless announcement that Taiwan had found a CURE for bird flu. Don't believe it? Here it is.
Medical Breakthrough
Posted: 7:23 PM Jan 29, 2007
A medical breakthrough to report tonight. Researchers in Taiwan are claiming they've found a vaccine that cures bird flu.
Taiwan's Health Institute has spent 13 months on the new vaccine that counteracts the deadly virus.
In a lab, the vaccine worked 70% of the time on rats and the institutes planning to mass producing the vaccine by the end of 2007.
Another example of extremely poor reporting. An experimental vaccine isn't a cure. There were several errors in this report. But I'm sure people tuned in for the 11 pm news that night.
Press releases are often printed by the media as if they are news. A company, looking for investors, releases a highly speculative announcement about a new drug, or product; something that may be years from public release, and the press treats it like a miracle about to save us.
Yes, we need more reporting on avian flu. And we have good reporters out there. People like Helen Branswell, Maggie Fox, Maryn McKenna, and others. They've done their homework, and understand the subject matter. But we need more like them.
Before a pandemic, good reporting is essential so that people can understand what steps are being taken by their governments, and what steps they should be taking, to mitigate the effects of a pandemic. This is a time for educating the public, not stoking the fires of fear.
If a pandemic should strike (still an `if'), the press will have an important job, and it isn't going to be about ratings, or selling papers. It will be about saving lives. They need to get the story right. People will need to know what to expect, where to get help, and what their options are.
Newspapers, cable news outfits, and even local TV stations would do well to find some knowledgeable people to educate their reporters on avian flu. Their reporters should be learning the basics today, not playing catch up in the middle of a crisis.
This isn't a story that is going to go away.
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