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Opinion: Why it’s so disappointing that j-schools are panicking over Ebola

avatar by Published Oct. 20, 2014 4:16 pm

In the last week, we’ve learned that three U.S. universities have canceled invitations to journalists due to fears about Ebola:

  • Syracuse University rescinded an invitation to Washington Post photographer Michel du Cille because he had reported on the epidemic in Liberia, and even though he’d been home longer than the 21-day self-monitoring period and had no symptoms, “there have been questions raised about whether the incubation period is longer,” Lorraine Branham, the dean of Syracuse’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, told Donald R. Winslow of News Photographer magazine.
  • The University of Georgia rescinded an invitation to Liberian journalist Wade C.L. Williams, who was due to speak at the university’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. “It just became abundantly clear we had a risk scenario and a situation on our hands that was a little more sensitive issue,” Grady College Dean Charles N. Davis told Brad Schrade of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  • The University of South Florida at St. Petersburg rescinded invitations to African journalists who are taking part in the U.S. State Department’s Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists. “We’ve cancelled out of upmost caution,” Regional Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Han Reichgelt wrote in a letter to journalism-school faculty, students and staff.

“Caution,” “questions,” “sensitive” — these are all apparently synonyms for willful disregard for facts, which is a curious fit for journalism schools, institutions that purportedly train people how to report what they know.

Here’s something those schools could have gleaned from reading some journalism: Unless you’re in contact with infected individuals’ bodily fluids, you have almost no chance of getting Ebola. The virus could conceivably change its pattern of transmission, but as Joel Achenbach and Brady Dennis reported in The Washington Post Oct. 18, “such a major change in transmission has never been observed in a pathogen that already affects human beings.”

Another fact that inconveniences panic: There have been three cases of Ebola in the U.S. so far. One of those people has died. By contrast, Max Fisher reports in Vox, 30 people die in America every year and more than 40,000 are injured from their furniture falling on them.

“Fearbola” has no place at journalism schools. There’s simply too much well-reported information available to justify these jelly-spined responses. Administrators at Newhouse, Grady and USF are teaching their students a dismal lesson: If they fear criticism — or possibly lawsuits — they should back off, facts be damned.

Two-thirds of Americans say they are concerned about an Ebola outbreak, according to a Washington Post poll last week. Journalism schools should be training their students to battle such perceptions (seriously, you’re probably going to die from heart disease or cancer). Which is why it’s so disappointing to see them leading in the opposite direction.

Related: “In canceling African journalists’ program, fear trumps reason” (Tampa Bay Times) | When covering Ebola, “reports that lead to more questions than answers may also lead to harm.” (SPJ)

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  • Rosie Bonfiglio Lee

    How typical to extract one statement and twist it out of context. Of course we all live with risk every day. But there are some risks we decide are not worth taking. That doesn’t mean we don’t take, or encounter, risk at all. We evaluate all the risks and decide which are acceptable and which are not. Misconstruing a point to make yours does not strengthen your argument. You should be able to see that.

    Why is it difficult to admit that the threat of spreading a life-threatening virus is something more than superstition? What you state is clear about the risk, and forgive me if I have not properly identified your authority on the matter, is less so as stated by other leading experts. To err on the side of caution is the most prudent measure any individual or institution can take. The possible consequences are greater than any benefit to the institutions or the individuals.

  • Albin

    It’s not willful disregard of facts, but willful disregard of the wet oozing assurances and projectile public relations Americans were exposed to from medical experts during the Texas Hospital catastrophe – nobody is believed as to facts – call it “Dallas Cowbola”.

  • Frank Spencer-Molloy

    “For many, any risk is too much risk.” Then I hope you don’t go anywhere in a car. There are risks in every human activity. Most are quantified and we accept them. When they aren’t quantified well — at least initially — as with Ebola, they cause discomfort and misunderstanding. It is the job of the news media to sort out facts from superstition. It is clear that the risk of catching Ebola comes from not being adequately protected while handling the body of a patient in the last throes of the disease. Banning a speaker simply because he comes from Africa betrays ignorance not befitting a journalism program. You should be able to see that.

  • Rose Lee

    Why are you persecuting anyone for being cautious? There’s no hysteria here, just common sense. You throw around words like “almost no chance” and “fairly certain” but insist that j-schools are not looking at facts? The FACT is you don’t have to be a healthcare worker to come in contact with bodily fluids. By your own admission, and I concede, Ebola is extremely difficult to contract from an infected person; it’s all down to timing and all the right symptoms. But for many, any risk is too much risk. For University systems, the responsibility to the college community and community at large is more important than a few disappointed journalists. They are adults; they’ll get over it.

    There is no blueprint for dealing with an Ebola outbreak in the world. Everyone is doing the best they can, and the most practical route is the one Syracuse University, the University of Georgia, and the University of South Florida at St. Petersburg have chosen. Applaud them. Knowing they would face the firing squad from the likes of you, judging from the sidelines with no vested interest, they showed courage and integrity.

  • Frank Spencer-Molloy

    Very discouraging. Journalists — and those who train young journalists at universities — should be the very last to ignore their own reporting and surrender to superstition. The two Dallas nurses caught Ebola because they were touching the body and the secretions of a man in the final stages of the disease who was shedding an incredible viral load, plus they were not adequately protected. I’m fairly certain they will be the only people to become infected as a result of contact, direct or indirect, with the index patient. There is ZERO chance that somebody who has come back from the affected areas in West Africa and is well poses any risk to a person in this country. These schools will one day look back in shame on what they did.

  • AWAnderson

    Let’s hope the Regional Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs used the word “utmost” instead of “upmost” in his letter. Falling furniture is not contagious. Incorrect word usage can be.