FEAR AND IGNORANCE DOMINATE MEDIA REPORTING OF PANDEMICS

Almaty, Kazakhstan, April 27 – The mass media and government health services have both largely failed in their task of informing the public about the risks of recent global pandemics such as ‘swine flu’. 
The answer?  Better science and better communications.

This was the consensus that emerged from a discussion by a panel of journalists and health experts at the annual Eurasian Media Forum taking place in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Speakers agreed that media reporting of health issues was too often characterized by ignorance and misunderstanding of the risks, leading to public fear and anxiety.   Many people thought swine flu was an urban myth.  Others believed the vaccine would cause other illnesses.  The result was general confusion.
Darren Murphy, former special adviser to the British Prime Minister’s office, said the media in general were not good at reporting risk because they did not understand the science, but he also blamed governments for not being open enough in explaining the risks associated with pandemics.

He gave the example of a serious health scare which surrounded the use of MMR vaccine in the United Kingdom.  The media carried reports indicating that the vaccine could cause autism in children, causing many people to refuse to take it.  The reports turned out to be based on fraudulent data.

“The issue was extremely badly handled by the health department, the government and the media. What is appalling is that there are children who are dead today because they didn’t get the vaccine,” he said.
.A question from the audience:  Why do the media get health stories wrong?
 
“We tend not to ask the right questions,” Louise Voller, Deputy Editor, Chili Group, Denmark, responded.  “We do not demand the kind of transparency from the authorities in these cases as we do for other reports.”
The media should have health specialists on staff, but this was very expensive and difficult to justify for stories that often did not last long on the main news agenda, she added.

Umit Sezgin, Editor in Chief, TRT-Turk, Turkey, said some media cared more about their ratings than reporting the truth.  “They don’t know the truth and they don’t take the trouble to find out,” he said.
Big pharmaceutical companies sometimes used the media for their own purposes, he alleged.
“What can we do?  Media companies need to deploy medical experts, but there is also a need to educate politicians, companies and others because their statements and announcement can scare the public,” he added.
Oleg Kisselev, Director, of the Flu Research Institute, Russian Academy of Medical Science, said it was the task of both the media and the authorities to inform and advise the public.  “We must deliver the message to every individual to go and get a vaccine. This must be communicated to the people.”

Several speakers blamed journalists’ lack of experience and training on reporting medical issues. 
“Unfortunately, there are many broadcasters who are good announcers but not good reporters. You have to know the right questions to ask and how to refute the spin that some governments deliver,” Stephen Cole, Senior Presenter, Al-Jazeera International and the overall chair of the conference, said.

Vladimir Rerikh, producer and journalist from Kazakhstan who was chairing the session, summed up the mood of the panel by calling for greater cooperation and transparency between the media and the health authorities. “This is a serious public relations challenge,” he said.  “We all have a duty to help the public understand the science and assess the risks.”