Bird Flu: The Role of Science Journalists

This article posted on SciDev.Net proposes that it is important for governments to recognise that responsible science journalism can play a significant role in limiting the impact of a global flu pandemic. According to the article, health officials across the world warn that the H5N1 avian influenza (also known as avian flu or bird flu) virus could spark a global pandemic of human flu that could cost million of lives. The article states that "it is already becoming clear that effectively communicating accurate information about the disease will be essential to efforts to contain it."

The article explains that various individuals and sectors need information to make good decisions. Health, veterinary, and government officials need information with which to plan their responses and allocate financial and human resources. It is also is important that the public be well informed about the nature of the flu and strategies for preventing it. There are also political reasons for communicating reliable information effectively, particularly if politicians are not to feel pressurised into over-reacting. While government officials have a responsibility to ensure that good information dissemination takes place, the article suggests that equally, if not more important, is the role of journalists and the media.

According to the article the key responsibility of journalists should be to ensure that the information it disseminates is as accurate as it can be in the circumstances. It must be consistent with what is either known and proven, or considered by those most familiar with the field to be likely. This means that in order to cover stories such as bird flu effectively, science and health journalists must be able to probe beneath the surface of what they are being told to judge the robustness of the information they are being given. Being skeptical about official statements, although often justified, is not enough. Equally necessary is the ability to discriminate between statements that are based on sound information and those that are not. The article further suggests that a lack of both medical and scientific infrastructure in developing countries lowers the ability of governments to meet the challenge of a rapidly spreading epidemic and makes effective public communication even more important.



The example of HIV/AIDS in Africa is used in pointing out the needs for good communication. The article states that countries which have been most effective in combating the disease are not the ones with the most sophisticated medical infrastructures, but those, such as Uganda, that have been most open in communicating about the disease. In others, such as South Africa, where political leaders have been in partial denial about the threat of HIV, official policies have been skewed.

The article concludes that commitment to transparency about a pandemic on its own is insufficient. Equally important is the need to ensure that those in the front-line of public communication - namely science and health journalists - have adequate tools and skills to perform their task. As the threat of bird flu rises up the agenda of governments around the world, this need must be given the priority that it requires.

Click here to access a related peer-reviewed summary on the Health e Communication website, and to participate in peer review.