The Peninsula of Qatar informs that COVID-19 creates a responsibility for global media citing a QF professor.
COVID 19 pandemic has created a responsibility for global media, but they’re not meeting it, according to Dr Marc Owen Jones, Assistant Professor in Middle East Studies and Digital Humanities at QF (Qatar Foundation) member Hamad Bin Khalifa University.
He argues on why worldwide news coverage of COVID-19 risks adding to public panic.
“I would say the global media is being absolutely irresponsible. They haven’t struck a very good balance between not trivializing issue, but also over-sensationalizing it. Everywhere you look, there seems to be this polarity of opinions: it’s either that COVID 19 isn’t so bad and it’s just like flu versus the constant coverage of COVID 19 -related issues, constant reports and numbers about how many new cases there are and where they are. I think this just inflames tensions about the issue,” he said in an email interview with media persons.
“I was asked to write a piece recently, and the whole underpinning of this piece was that people are interested in stories. They drive a lot of clicks for advertising revenue, so media corporations that rely on advertising business models basically make money from clicks. And COVID 19 gets a lot of clicks. COVID 19, as well as being a virus, is actually going viral, so I think there is a big problem there,” he added.
According to Dr Jones, it’s important to be transparent about any public health issue. The problem is that, often, the reporting of deaths happens as breaking news in big, garish headlines and is top of the news bill every day; that has certainly been the case in recent weeks and months. It’s not so much the reporting of figures that is the issue; it’s the constant reporting of new deaths every day in a way that occupies headlines.
“I think this exaggerates the dangers and the impact of coronavirus in people’s heads. There are countless other illnesses or conditions or social issues that result in more deaths, but these are not reported on every day,” he said.
It is difficult to determine what is a reliable source of news, said Dr Jones. “It is not always easy. I don’t like to say you should rely on established news media, but in times like this, I do think it’s important to stick with something reputable, Don’t just retweet something you see on social media. Be very clear about whether the news you are reading has some sort of pedigree: is it linked to a well-known news site? Is it quoting, for example, a health official from a public ministry? That is always a good barometer to follow,” he added.
Referring to overwhelming information spreading on COVID 19, Dr Jones said that ‘Infodemic’ is a very important term.
“We are getting a lot of information from a plurality of sources – too much information. This prevents people from being able to synthesize and process all this information, and what tends to stick in people’s heads is the more dramatic or sensational coverage. Too much exposure to news is more likely to promote a sense of panic, and I think it’s actually healthy to isolate yourself from this infodemic,” he said.
According to Dr Jones, there is clearly an impact of relentless coverage of COVID -19 on people’s behaviors, and that it is not constructive.
He also said that COVID- 19 has occupied news coverage more than other issues for several reasons. “The absence of anything else substantial in the current news cycle is also perpetuating this. It is a global issue, not a parochial issue affecting one country, so it will be reflected in country’s media. And it captures the imagination. People click on it because they find it fascinating and viscerally scary. And it’s been weaponized, which is contributing to this large media storm around the issue,” said Dr Jones.
He also insisted that there needs to be more responsibility in news coverage.
Dr Jones said that media should perhaps have an updated set of best practices and recommendations, endorsed by the World Health Organization and public health officials, in a standing location on their web page. “This can be done in an understated way and a way that suggests this is about reporting and not sensationalizing,” he said.
“The media has a responsibility to do this because, at the moment, the role they’re playing is to promote panic. Constant breaking news and red ticker tape on many news websites is not helping, and neither is the way coronavirus dominates headlines. The constant repetition of stories about deaths and new cases in bold front-page headlines is a problem,” he added.
