Plagues, Pestilence and Pathogens: The Ethical Implications of News Reporting of a World Health Crisis

Abstract

This essay explores the ethics issues raised by SARS coverage and places them in the context of the history of pandemics. Building on earlier work, I suggest that health crises, at their onset, induce journalists to change their role from normal, critical reporting to news coverage that has the goal of saving life. Once the immediate crisis has passed, however, journalists’ roles return to the norm, that of societal watchdog. This shift in roles has particular implications for how the media cover the risk of health issues, such as SARS, as well as how the media, as institutions, relate to other institutions in society, particularly the medical/scientific community and national governments.