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REPORTING EBOLA: The impact of news
Posted by
Morgan Meaker
Concern Universal, guest blogger
As Ebola panic spreads worldwide, the global media demonstrates its huge power over attitudes towards the disease.
Nigeria is a rare Ebola success story. Nigeria has been declared officially free of Ebola by the World Health Organization (WHO) after 6 weeks with no new cases. Many link Nigeria’s triumph to its progressive communications campaign, launched in an atmosphere of panic after its first case was discovered in July.
Nigeria’s enormous online population – the eighth largest in the world – meant doctors could access and educate huge audiences via forums, such as www.ebolaalert.org and www.ebolafacts.com. Local governments also mobilized radio, text and TV as sources of practical information, hoping to reach everyone– with or without internet access.
Further west in Sierra Leone, BBC Media Action have started to use similar tactics by launching a new radio show called ‘Kick Ebola out of Sierra Leone’. Broadcast three times a week across 35 partner stations, the programme provides fact-checked statistics whilst also tackling rumours and misleading information.
Steve Manasaray, Manager of Sierra Leone’s Radio Bintumani, emphasizes how important is it for the media to take a responsible stance on reporting Ebola: “The station has had a huge effect in helping to bring calm to the community. We are at the forefront of the fight in educating people about how the virus is contracted and the relevant symptoms. People come from nearby villages and tell us how much they appreciate the work we are doing including our broadcasting programmes on Ebola in local languages.”
However, across the border in Liberia, the story is very different. The news has been described as ‘muzzled’ and Journalists have been banned from covering important aspects of the outbreak. They now they need permission from Liberia’s health ministry to talk to Ebola patients, medics or to film or photograph treatment centres.
Government spokesman Isaac Jackson justified this decision to Sky FM: “They [journalists] violate people’s privacy.” But the Press Union of Liberia has urged the government to focus on stamping out the disease instead of trying to stop journalists doing their jobs.
In the West, interest in the epidemic was sparse until it eventually reached American soil. At the end of September, Thomas Duncan became the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the US, sparking media panic.
This Twitter map shows a literal flare up in interest throughout the West at the beginning of October – coinciding with Duncan’s diagnosis. News outlets exploited this fear, making a clear move away from the conscientious examples set by media organisations in Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
MSNBC turned to theatrics, its front page screaming ‘EBOLA IS HERE’ and CNN’s allusion to the virus as “The ISIS of biological agents” antagonised already heightened anxieties. However in The US and Europe, this panic has not translated into much-needed aid donations which still remain low.
Media rhetoric drew on the idea of Ebola as an ‘African’ disease until health fears spilled over into thinly veiled racism. People from infected countries found themselves being rejected from houses in Britain and from schools in The US. Recently a poster put up by a South Korean pub went viral, it read: “We apologize but due to the Ebola virus we are not accepting Africans at the moment”.
In Italy, some say that asylum seekers trying to enter the country should be kept in quarantine at sea and Switzerland’s right wing also reacted to Ebola by lashing out at migrants.
The UN makes a clear recognition the media’s potential to effectively tackle Ebola as it launches a new project, Fighting Ebola Through Media. As proved in Nigeria, information is the best weapon against the virus. In a climate of crisis, journalists have a duty to provide the public with practical information – sensation can only make things worse.
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Posted by
Morgan Meaker
—
As Ebola panic spreads worldwide, the global media demonstrates its huge power over attitudes towards the disease.
Nigeria is a rare Ebola success story. Nigeria has been declared officially free of Ebola by the World Health Organization (WHO) after 6 weeks with no new cases. Many link Nigeria’s triumph to its progressive communications campaign, launched in an atmosphere of panic after its first case was discovered in July.
Nigeria’s enormous online population – the eighth largest in the world – meant doctors could access and educate huge audiences via forums, such as www.ebolaalert.org and www.ebolafacts.com. Local governments also mobilized radio, text and TV as sources of practical information, hoping to reach everyone– with or without internet access.
Further west in Sierra Leone, BBC Media Action have started to use similar tactics by launching a new radio show called ‘Kick Ebola out of Sierra Leone’. Broadcast three times a week across 35 partner stations, the programme provides fact-checked statistics whilst also tackling rumours and misleading information.
Steve Manasaray, Manager of Sierra Leone’s Radio Bintumani, emphasizes how important is it for the media to take a responsible stance on reporting Ebola: “The station has had a huge effect in helping to bring calm to the community. We are at the forefront of the fight in educating people about how the virus is contracted and the relevant symptoms. People come from nearby villages and tell us how much they appreciate the work we are doing including our broadcasting programmes on Ebola in local languages.”
However, across the border in Liberia, the story is very different. The news has been described as ‘muzzled’ and Journalists have been banned from covering important aspects of the outbreak. They now they need permission from Liberia’s health ministry to talk to Ebola patients, medics or to film or photograph treatment centres.
Government spokesman Isaac Jackson justified this decision to Sky FM: “They [journalists] violate people’s privacy.” But the Press Union of Liberia has urged the government to focus on stamping out the disease instead of trying to stop journalists doing their jobs.
In the West, interest in the epidemic was sparse until it eventually reached American soil. At the end of September, Thomas Duncan became the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the US, sparking media panic.
This Twitter map shows a literal flare up in interest throughout the West at the beginning of October – coinciding with Duncan’s diagnosis. News outlets exploited this fear, making a clear move away from the conscientious examples set by media organisations in Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
MSNBC turned to theatrics, its front page screaming ‘EBOLA IS HERE’ and CNN’s allusion to the virus as “The ISIS of biological agents” antagonised already heightened anxieties. However in The US and Europe, this panic has not translated into much-needed aid donations which still remain low.
Media rhetoric drew on the idea of Ebola as an ‘African’ disease until health fears spilled over into thinly veiled racism. People from infected countries found themselves being rejected from houses in Britain and from schools in The US. Recently a poster put up by a South Korean pub went viral, it read: “We apologize but due to the Ebola virus we are not accepting Africans at the moment”.
In Italy, some say that asylum seekers trying to enter the country should be kept in quarantine at sea and Switzerland’s right wing also reacted to Ebola by lashing out at migrants.
The UN makes a clear recognition the media’s potential to effectively tackle Ebola as it launches a new project, Fighting Ebola Through Media. As proved in Nigeria, information is the best weapon against the virus. In a climate of crisis, journalists have a duty to provide the public with practical information – sensation can only make things worse.
