I remember when I first heard about the coronavirus outbreak back in 2019–it was from a New York Times article in the World News section with only a thousand or so views. It was framed as a “Chinese issue” with no indication of the paranoia-inducing frenzy that was to come only months later.
Now, The New York Times has a whole page dedicated to the virus with news articles updated every several hours. They even have their own newsletter, titled Coronavirus Briefing. In fact, the only thing that seems to be spreading faster than the fear of the virus is news media’s capitalization of it.
The New York Times isn’t the only perpetrator by a long shot, but it’s starting to feel like most of the impulsive, paranoid actions of individuals–like massive shortages of hand sanitizer and face masks–is partially due to the media.
No, not in the liberal-brainwashing media sense or even in the fake-news conspiracy theorist sense. But I often think back to the Ebola virus, when Americans started limiting their travel and planning increased doctors’ visits before a case had even been reported in the United States. It’s true Ebola was a threat to many communities and should have been reported on with the same importance as American issues, but a serious amount of the coverage centered on “what to do if you find out you have Ebola” or “10 ways to prevent Ebola.”
The media bred that chaos, perhaps even unintentionally. I even understand the necessity of it considering the underfunding of journalism in this age. But profiting off a person’s fear, even if your product helps them, is still morally wrong. And the more the news media publicize anything and everything involving the coronavirus, the more people are going to react as if it is already a pandemic.
Brenna Fuhr 