Covering an Outbreak
Sunday, November 6, 2011
It is difficult to cover widespread diseases when people are panicking and false information is flooding the Web.Journalists who cover this beat work hard to keep people informed and calm when covering disease such as AIDS, swine flu, malaria, and avian flu.
When there is an actual pandemic, the biggest problem is the confusion.
The first thing people want to know is how the disease will affect their family and what they can do to prevent getting the disease. The journalist's job is to tell the truth about the number of deaths, the dangers of the disease, and what can be done about it.
One problem that arises when covering a pandemic are the methods taken to avoid the journalists from contracting the disease.
Journalists should always take masks and gloves. They should also receive any shots available to prevent getting the disease.
The most reliable sources for diseases are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.
2 comments:
This is important to remember that journalists put themselves in harm's way to keep the public informed. Not only do reports cover war zones and natural disasters but also disease-stricken areas. I don't think this is the kind of beat I would want to work. Tracking illnesses is the job of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, but are those two as up to date as journalists' updates?
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