The Outbreak of Fear
Knowledge is power, or so the old adage goes. But in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, too much knowledge is starting to burden us. In a well-intentioned effort to arm ourselves with information against such a deadly disease, our society has done ourselves a disservice by spreading an outbreak of fear.
In no way am I saying that COVID-19 should be taken lightly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, novel Coronavirus, or COVID-19, is a severely contagious respiratory illness that can often result in complications like pneumonia, organ failure and death, especially for at-risk populations but for seemingly healthy individuals as well.
As of April 17, the U.S. had seen 661,712 cases of COVID-19 and 33,049 deaths, with the country’s first reported case being on Jan. 21, according to the CDC. According to Business Insider, the U.S. has a current death rate of 4.1 percent. That number varies depending on the source and sometimes allows for inaccuracies because of underreported cases. Due to the severity of the virus and the lack of a vaccine, it’s understandable that people want to protect themselves and their loved ones. However, there is a line between keeping up with current health measures and overexposure to news media that has harmful effects.
According to the New York Times, during the week of Mar. 15, an average of 32.2 million people watched the evening news, which was a 42 percent increase from 2019. This was the same week the U.S. began the quarantine, remaining at home to slow the spread of the virus.
Society has been turning to the internet for answers. According to Google’s page tracking Coronavirus-related searches, the indexed search interest for the illness on a scale of 1-100 was <1 in July 2004 to 100 this past March and so far 91 in April.
While increased news viewership and google searches aren’t necessarily a bad thing, since more Americans will know how to protect themselves and others, it can also induce unnecessary anxiety through repeated exposure.
Because the news business is first and foremost, a business. It aims to make money. And to do this, it needs viewers. Especially at a time like this, I believe the news industry is capitalizing from fear to attract more viewers using bias as well as speculations, not facts - on both sides of the political spectrum.
In her March 9 primetime on Fox Business, host Trish Regan speculated that despite 647 already-active cases in the U.S. and 2,502 people whose illness began that day, Democrats over-politicized the virus, according to the CDC.
She said, “as Democrats blame [Trump] and only him for a virus that originated halfway across the world…[It] is yet another attempt to impeach the president.”
Another popular news network, CNN, is equally guilty of speculation. On March 17, political commentator David Axelrod commented on the effect Coronavirus could have on President Donald Trump’s reelection, despite its irrelevance to the crisis.
“He’s the president of the United States in the midst of a crisis. It took him a long time to acknowledge the depth of that crisis, but if he consistently appears to be wrestling with that crisis, this is a country that likes to rally behind the leader,” Axelrod said.
Besides being biased, the media has been found to impact mood. A 2011 study done by Wendy Johnston and Graham Davey that investigated the psychological impact of negative news bulletins on television found this to be the case. The results showed that after watching a negative news bulletin for just 14 minutes, participants were more inclined to have worrisome thoughts. And who knows what could happen with repeated exposure, according to the abstract.
This most likely stems from the idea that watching negative news stories can exacerbate pre-existing feelings of anxiety and depression. It can also disseminate widespread panic and prejudice against those from China, where the Coronavirus originated.
On March 16, Trump tweeted about the Coronavirus using the phrase, “Chinese virus.” Besides being factually inaccurate and racist, this perpetuated violence towards those from China according to STOP AAPI HATE, a website launched on Mar. 19. So far the website has received over 1,100 reports of COVID-19 related discrimination against Asian Americans in the U.S. Overexposure to this kind of negativity from a ‘trusted’ news source, especially against one specific race, can worsen the spread of this prejudice.
Since non-negatively-valenced news is scarce, all people can do to avoid these negative effects is to limit their exposure. It is extremely important to stay informed on all pertinent measures being taken by state and national governments against the Coronavirus, however, viewers should aim to limit their exposure. Ways to do this include a few daily updates from multiple news sources to avoid political bias, or only watching the news once a day. It’s important to stay informed, as long as it helps overall health and doesn’t hurt it.