What is bird flu? Kids Health for Parents. November 2005. “Bird Flu – Avian Flu.” Posted at <http://kidshealth.org/parent/ general/sick/avian_flu.html>. WHO. Posted at <http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ avian_influenza/avian_faqs/en/#whatis>.
Avian influenza, (also known as bird flu, avian flu, influenza virus A flu, type A flu, or genus A flu) is a contagious disease of animals caused by viruses that normally infect only birds and, less commonly, pigs. Avian influenza viruses are highly species-specific, but on rare occasions, have crossed the species barrier to infect humans.
Some strains of the avian flu only cause mild symptoms in birds, ruffling feathers and reducing their egg production. Other strains, including some of the H5 strains, are more dangerous: they spread quickly, cause more severe symptoms, and are almost always fatal to the birds. To keep the flu from spreading, more than 150 million birds in affected countries have been destroyed. Nevertheless, the WHO estimates it will take at least 2 years to contain this particular outbreak.
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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 23 January 2006, 82 people are known to have died and at least 151 have been hospitalised after being infected with the H5N1 strain. Every day brings new headlines, with the latest news covering bird flu outbreaks in Turkey. Media has to balance the task of warning the people of hazards with that of calming citizens in an atmosphere of panic.
Sherry Cooper, in her August 2005 article “Pandemics, panic, and the global economy,” points to the significant role of media in reporting a global pandemic. “As the story moves to the front pages and headlines of news broadcasts, panic might well ensue. If this is real, waiting for the spread of disease from human to human will be too late. If nothing else, we hope to raise the consciousness of citizens around the world in an effort to support the urgent endeavours of the public health and medical professionals,” says Cooper. If left unchecked, she says, “the poorest countries would be hardest hit, with economic decline in India and China having devastating effects on the rest of the world."
How media controls crisis
Unfortunately, media may not project the most realistic picture of a crisis as they may have their own vested interests. After all, the disease itself and the resulting panic could cause economic damage to many industries, including airlines, land and water transportation, tourism, retail and wholesale trade, and essential imports and exports.
According to the media watch organisation Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), most media outlets are owned by for-profit corporations, which makes them more accountable to stockholders than to the public interest. It says that “as news outlets fall into the hands of large conglomerates with holdings in many industries, conflicts of interest inevitably interfere with news gathering.”
Accusations of cover-ups of the bird flu epidemic have been made in Thailand, which was the 4th largest poultry exporter in the world in 2003. According to an article on the politics of bird flu in Thailand, agribusiness and a multinational corporate empire managed to influence Thai political leaders to ensure that the interests of the export industry were protected over those of the consumers and producers.
Aside from corporate interests, neo-liberal interests may also play a part in media control.
Robert McChesney, University of Illinois Professor, in an article called “Global media, neo-liberalism and imperialism,” writes how media and communication play a central role in a globalised world. He says that “economic and cultural globalisation arguably would be impossible without a global commercial media system to promote global markets and to encourage consumer values.”
Moves toward globalisation result in the de-regulation of commercial media and communication markets. Media systems which were formerly nationally run have been opened up to the emerging global media market, said to be dominated by multinationals. This scenario colours media reporting on pandemics as well.
Discerning citizens
In the end, while mass communication plays an important role in informing people about crisis situations, it is the public who must take the initiative to increase awareness on the pandemic. Citizens should likewise be aware of media’s limitations and be wary of media’s self interests and the ideologies that they propagate.
To read updates of the World Health Organisation (WHO), visit <http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en/>.
Sources:
Chanyapate, Chanida and Delforge, Isabelle. 20 April 2004. “The politics of bird flu in Thailand.” Posted in Focus on the Global South at <http://www.focusweb.org/content/view/273/29/>.
Cooper, Sherry. August 2005. “Pandemics, panic, and the global economy.” Posted at The Communication Initiative website, <http://www.comminit.com/strategicthinking/st2005/thinking-1410.html>
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). “Corporate ownership.” Posted at the FAIR website. <http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=7&issue_area_id=6>.
Kakuchi, Suvendrini. 13 January 2006. “Surveillance is the key to tackling bird flu.” Posted at the Inter Press Service News Agency website < http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31757>.
McChesney, Robert. Aug/Sep 2001. “Global media, neoliberalism and imperialism.” International Socialist Review. Posted at the Third World Traveler website <http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/McChesney/GlobalMedia_Neoliberalism.html>.
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). “The media: Self-instruction course on risk communication.” Posted at the PAHO website <http://www.cepis.ops-oms.org/tutorial6/i/topic_09.html>.
Sandman, Peter M. and Lanard, Jody. 2005. “Bird flu: Communicating the risk.” Perspectives in Health, Volume 10, No. 2. Posted at The Communication Initiative website <http://www.comminit.com/strategicthinking/st2005/thinking-1404.html>
Steffen, Alex. “Can we out-collaborate a pandemic?” Posted at WorldChanging.Com <http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/003310.html>.
How media should communicate crisis
Experts believe that motivating people to start taking bird flu seriously should be a top priority for government health departments.
To address the seriousness of the issue without causing undue panic, they believe that principles of risk communication provide the best guidance.
Peter Sandman and Jody Lanard (2005), in their article “Bird Flu: Communicating the Risk,” offer the following recommendations to journalists:
Start where your audience is - understand their current beliefs, and start the explanation from there.
- Don't be afraid to frighten people - they will not stay frightened long, and a little fear can be motivating.
- Acknowledge uncertainty - people are alarmed by overconfidence.
- Share dilemmas - it humanises the organisation and invites new ideas.
- Don't get caught in the numbers game.
- Stress magnitude more than probability - overconfidence about risk probability is a mistake.
- Guide the adjustment reaction - take advantage of the temporary period when people have just ceased to be apathetic.
- Inform the public early and aim for total candour and transparency.
- Give people things to do - there is a lot people can do to prepare.
Through risk communication—which is “partly precaution advocacy and partly crisis communication”—the public will be better prepared emotionally and logistically to deal with risks. In the event of a pandemic, people will have had time to understand the risks, follow government advice, and take an active role in protecting themselves.
Source: Sandman, Peter M. and Lanard, Jody. 2005. “Bird flu: Communicating the risk.” Perspectives in Health, Volume 10, No. 2. Posted at The Communication Initiative website <http://www.comminit.com/strategicthinking/st2005/thinking-1404.html>
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