Fear Production
There is no news, like bad news.
Simply turn on your TV or go to a news website and you will see plenty of examples of sensationalized news. They are not very hard to find and are usually right on the front page. Listed below are a few examples of news items that captured North American audiences for months and inflicted panic and fear amongst the general population. However, when the hype is compared to what it actually was and the facts left out, it is clear to see that the creation of fear was severely misplaced.
The Africanized Honey Bee (Killer Bees)
Most people will remember the fear the reports of these bees crossing the Mexican border into the United States created. There were countless reports of swarming bees attacking entire cities and towns. Not only were they reported to be overly aggressive but they were also reported to kill hundreds of people. However this is not the case. The American media, then picked up by the global media, sensationalized these bees to the point where Americans no longer carried a gun for protection, but a can of Raid. Yet the number of deaths caused by these bees in the United States as a percentage of all deaths comes in at .0001%, with deaths caused by normal bees equaling .007%. As of 2008, only 1 death has been attributed directly to these bees, while only another 17 deaths have been thought to have occurred due to the bees. Meanwhile, most of these deaths can also be attributed to the fact that most of the fatalities occurred with people who had severe allergies to bee stings. Yet the media portrayed the image of a severe threat, all in the name of making a profit.
Lies in the Water!
The summer of 2002 was relatively slow for news stations when compared to most summers. So it is not hard to imagine how the corporate media would take whatever they could get and then spin, spin and then spin it some more. So when 8-year-old Jessie Arbogast, whose arm was severed by a bull shark in the waters off Pensacola Florida was rescued by his uncle in July, the media began its sensationalism and dubbed that summer, The Summer of the Shark. There was one problem though, shark attacks were down to 76 from 85, and fatalities were down to 5 from 12 when compared to the year 2000. So in order to create a news story, these networks fabricated and exaggerated the truth to incite fear, and therefore more viewership. George Burgess who was the director of the International Shark Attack File, located at the University of Florida said he normally handled about 300 inquiries a year from newspapers, radio and television stations on sharks, did more than 900 interviews during the summer of 2002. He said; “I had more calls in those three months than I had in the previous three years combined. Some of them were from radio shows in places like Montana, North Dakota and Idaho, where there hasn’t been a shark since the Miocene.” This just further promotes the mounting evidence that sensationalized news stories have a way of growing and being picked up from other locations. This also causes misinterpretations and facts to be misplaced leading to faulty news that is then given unto the general populace.
Avian Who?
The Avian Flu, who remembers that little media scare? Reports and images of flocks of rabid birds flying across the ocean, swarms of birds attacking people and the idea that by even looking at an infected bird caused someone to catch it. Many of you will probably even remember Hazmat teams picking up dead birds that were later tested to reveal no signs of the disease. For months all we heard about was the high mortality rate, but how many people have actually died from this strain? The current number according to the WHO sits at 286 people since 2003 worldwide. Although tragic in that people died, hardly a reason for such a media caused scare. The World Health Organization also has the latest amount of flu cases sitting at 7 in Egypt, and 1 in Indonesia. So why all the scare and panic? As most of you can recall, you or your parents may have spent a lot of time watching the news and waiting to hear of that lone case occurring close to home.
H!N! Pandemic
Swine Flu, I mean H1N1, I mean the black plague, I mean the end of human kind. So many headlines and so many examples of fear mongering. I will admit that this strain of the flu is still in its early stages as it has yet to hit South America during their winter season. However, a look at the numbers themselves show that this strain of the flu kills less people then the normal seasonal flu. In fact, the WHO called this a pandemic, a level 6 on their danger scale with six being the highest. That means that this strain of the flu is as dangerous as the black plague, which was also a pandemic killing nearly 1/3 of Europe's population. I must concede that I thought it was only a matter of time before the U.S. went to Def-con 8, or Danger Orange, or whatever other system unknown and misunderstood by the public to incite fear and increase purchases of vaccines, water, and canned foods. As of January 10, 2010 the CDC estimated that 11,690 deaths in the United States was caused by the H1N1 flu virus while on average a total of 36,000 Americans die each year from flu complications. Sound like the Black Plague, or something fabricated by the media? Why do this though? Well, vaccines cost money, and in an economy that needs a jump start by getting people to start spending money what better way to do this. There is a saying that War is great for the economy, but with America already in a war that no one is happy with, perhaps the next best option is a pandemic.
CRIME!!!
I am sure most of you already know that the perceived crime on the news is not accurate. Yet in many cases, the average public continually believes that crime rates are rising, as more and more crime stories appear on the news. In fact, studies have found that crime on average continues to go down. Due to a large campaign in awareness, many people have begun to realize that this is the case. However, not all media is the news! Television shows also encompass this category and continually use sensationalism to promote their shows. The issue with this is that many shows such as the CSI series, Criminal Minds, 24 and others, continually base their plot lines off of real life events. They use a twist however, and its called extreme exaggeration! One only has to watch an episode of CSI: Miami to witness at least one to two times that a cop fires their gun. In some episodes, there are multiple fire fights. Yet, an average cop in New York City would have to work an average of 60 years to just fire their gun once. (Dr. Cecil Greek). Although people are waking up to this the news broadcasters are not listening. A study done by the FBI Uniform Crime Report done from 1990 to 1995, the following stats were discovered.
- The rate for serious violent crimes dropped 6 percent and the rate of crimes against property fell 10 percent in the United States between 1990-1995. During that same time span, network news coverage of crime increased by 240 percent.
- In the real world, homicide declined by 13 percent between 1990 and 1995. Meanwhile, network news coverage of murders for the same period increased by 336 percent.
