Avian Flu, a Pandemic & the Role of Journalists

Sylvia Renteria watches a big wave caused by
Hurricane Ike crash into a seawall in Galveston, Texas.
Photo from National Geographic

Nieman Reports has published excerpts from a conference in which public health experts and journalists discussed preparations to cover the news during the next flu pandemic. Since there have been 10 flu pandemics in the last 300 years, we ought to expect that another one will arrive sooner or later. If by some chance it is not a flu pandemic, we must expect some other pandemic of a communicable disease, following. After all, we are still dealing with HIV/AIDS and remember the threat of SARS.

It is a real issue, since the reporters too are likely to be affected by the disaster and the worse the disaster, the greater the need that it be covered, and the less the ability of the journalists to do so. There is also a question of how and how much to prepare for an eventuality that may not materialize.

In the case of the next flu pandemic, it should be realized that some pandemics are much worse than others. Some generate infections more rapidly than others, some infect a larger portion of the population than others, some are more lethal than others, and some target especially important members of society (as HIV/AIDS in some African nations has been more prevalent in the military, teachers and truck drivers). The worst flu epidemic in the last 300 years is estimated to have killed 50 times as many people as the least lethal. How then does a newsroom prepare to meet the emergency?

When a hurricane occurs, and a newspaper is struggling to put out a reduced edition in the most severe of conditions, surrounded by stories that need telling, how do the editors allocate their resources, and how do they set priorities for the content that they publish? Can they prepare for those decisions in advance?