Next stop: panic?

Never make a decision related to health based on anything you read in a national newspaper. That’s one of my little maxims after years spent monitoring health scares in the media. It’s proving particularly relevant now that swine flu has propelled itself into the national consciousness like a new X Factor winner.

Back in April, I wrote a post on how the public deals with the perception of a new risk like swine flu. Right now, our papers, news websites and TV programmes seem to be infected with the flu themselves – most of them giving advice. Do this, don’t do this; do that, don’t do that.  The problem for the ordinary punter is trying to assess all of this information and turn it into some sort of meaningful guidance. And that’s not easy. As with other Great British heath scares like the MMR jab, SARS and BSE, no matter how much you read up on the subject in the press, it’s virtually impossible to reach some sort of rational consensus. I can remember sifting through tonnes of data on MMR, concerned parent that I am, just to tie myself in mental knots. It was only when some German friends  mentioned that the UK was the only country in the world which seemed to be fixated on MMR that I saw a glimmer of light. (The children were duly dispatched to the doctor for their jabs pronto.)

Three media factors make swine flu the issue it is right now - four if you count the virus itself.

The first is that, with the summer holidays upon us, news is in short supply so the media are looking for anything else that can fill the gaps. With most of the nation’s politicians and celebs basking on a beach somewhere, the media’s traditional news sources have dried up till September. A good health scare that can potentially affect every person in the UK is great for filling both news and feature pages. (How long will it be before the first swine flu fashion piece: how to wear your respiratory mask and still look cool!)

The second is that newspapers in particular, and much of the media in general,  are simply the wrong medium for the balanced, proportionate discussion of health issues. Front page headlines exist for one reason – to sell papers – so DON’T WORRY in 40-point Times New Roman bold isn’t going to be anywhere as effective in shifting copies as DO WORRY.

The media is not suited for discussions of shades of grey; journalists want black and white. Claims from all sides of the swine flu debate are given similar status in terms of headlines and coverage. There are realistic views among the scaremongering pieces, but they are easily lost amid all the shouting and misinformation.

Third, in the age of instant online reporting – and gosh, didn’t Michael Jackson’s death at night catch the British national papers on the hop – news outlets are tending to publish first, then ask questions later. GP dies of swine flu, shouted last week’s headlines; a few days later we learned, through much smaller articles, that the GP in question had a heart complaint and probably died of natural causes.

Finally, a prize for anyone who knows the difference between a disease that’s infectious and a disease  that’s contagious. Keep healthy.

Written by Adrian Beeby