Bored Media Syndrome

We are a global world. News coverage of any event is instantaneous. Thanks to the internet, a dowdy, middle-aged female in the United Kingdom became an overnight YouTube sensation worldwide and appears to be well on her way to an entirely new lifestyle. When a typhoon struck Myanmar, the rest of the world heard about it and geared up to send aid within hours.

The communication technologies available today make helping our global neighbors easier than at any other time in history. However, with this amazing gift of technology comes responsibility. Just a couple of weeks ago, a new strain of flu with the current moniker H1N1 struck in Mexico. Within hours, the rest of the world knew about it. Over the course of the next several days, news agencies were posting almost minute by minute updates of outbreaks around the world. Every time the CDC raised the awareness level, the news was transmitted. Many news anchors used the phrase, “I don’t want to freak out anyone,” while continuing to report on the possibilities of a global pandemic.

Fortunately, it appears as though the H1N1 will be milder than previously reported. The rate of infection is slowing, and Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak, is slowly returning to normal. While the virus could always morph into something else, it appears as though the world will be able to handle it with current stocks of antiviral medication.

However, I do wonder if the pandemic hysteria might have been avoided if the world hadn’t been bombarded with minute by minute updates about the spread of the virus. Perhaps if news anchors hadn’t continually used the phrase “freak out,” my local superstore wouldn’t have run out of hand sanitizer. I would like to think that the media wasn’t bored and looking for something that would whip the world into a frenzy. I would like to believe that helping people was at the forefront of the reporting and not ratings.

And just once, I would like to see the same sort of attention paid to the winner of the local spelling bee, the teacher who retired after 45 years teaching second grade or the young man who mowed lawns during the summer to pay for college.

Connie Wacha, Communications/Mission Education Associate, The Columban Fathers