Infonoia

Did information made us paranoid? Or paranoia made us informed?

It's hard to run away from information in the world we live in. Even if you don't want to be informed there's the TV with 24/7 news channels, there's your computer with all the information in the world. It's tempting not to be seeking information every 30 minutes. Especially when there's something like the swine flu we have going around the world today.

Where's the media's responsibility? Naturally, the first and foremost principal of journalism is to stick to the truth. But, where does the truth and the necessity to inform every step become too much? Where is the line? Where does the responsibility of avoiding collective panic start? And where do we identify a point where we have to be extremely careful to keep everything in context?

The latter is the main issue when it comes to information that can cause panic. And it's not always the media's fault. Sometimes we only listen or read the headline, or we drop an article after the 1st paragraph. That's why it's imperative that journalists be extremely attentive to how they write their headlines. A lot of them want to write the shocky kind because "it will attract more readers." But it will also scare more readers, because a lot of people will stop reading and keep only the information included in the lead.
I read an article in one of Mexico's most prestigious newspapers yesterday, the headline read: "Alarm on rising swine flu cases in Canada." The second paragraph went on to explain how all of the cases mentioned were found benign and none of the patients were in grave danger. There's an obvious disconnect between the headline and the rest of the text. This is irresponsible journalism.

The inspiration to write about this comes from the swine flu outbreak in my country. I want to say that I'm really sad to know that my hometown is going through rough times. That people are not leaving their houses, that the streets are empty, people scared, sick and some dying.
The World Health Organization has just raised the alert level to 5, one before this is declared a pandemic. These are reasons for people to be nervous and can obviously cause paranoia. But we also have to reason and use the information that has been given to us to understand what exactly is going on. The virus itself is treatable, so that tells us that we should seek attention when the 1st symptoms show. The cause for international concern comes from the fact that it's an unknown strain of the virus, which may even go away by the end of the flu season (reports show that it's likely to come back for the winter when, hopefully, a vaccine will be available.) It's more likely to attack people with weak immune systems, so stay healthy and take your vitamins. Be extra cautious when it comes to hygiene, wash hands a lot, this can protect you up to 99% against the virus and other germs. And if you do get sick go see a doctor, there's thousands of flu cases every year and not to minimize the impact of this specific one, but the cases and deaths are still proportionally small.

And the main recommendation is not to panic, be well informed (but not over-informed) and for the media, keep in mind that the collective conscience lies in your hands. Don't be alarmist but useful and helpful.