Posts Tagged ‘Mexico’

The media reaction to the recent swine flu outbreak has been fascinating. It has consumed our TV screens 24/7, and we’re undoubtedly going to see a lot more coverage in the weeks to come as this possible pandemic unfolds.

What I find extraordinary is that as never before, the world is able to witness how the web is mapping its spread on an up to the minute basis. Technology has reached such levels that people around the world are able to communicate the spread of the disease on a case by case basis to the rest of the world.  As one Guardian blogger observes, maps already exist on the web visually representing cases around the world as they are reported, providing a powerful visual representation of the risk.

Whilst undoubtedly this reporting is useful to monitor the disease, many would argue that only the factors that elevate our perception of risk are being documented creating media hype that is ultimately unhelpful and unrepresentative of the real situation.

The things that temper this elevated risk are being reported rather less. For instance the fact that there have been no fatalities outside Mexico, and the fact that almost all the fatalities have occurred at high altitude where there is an elevated risk of respiratory disease, are both factors that would reassure but are not reported in the same way. The spread of this information of this kind is slower to spread, there is no wiki protest map representing this.

What lies at the bottom of the debate surrounding reporting of swine flu is that this continuous and urgent flow of information that we are witnessing is one way and unbalanced. If we can figure out a way of balancing the information then the internet could become a useful tool for us in figuring out our own personal risk.