Misery A resident of the West Point neighborhood in Monrovia, Liberia, looks out from behind closed gates after the government quarantined the seaside slum on August 21, amid fears of Ebola contamination. (John Moore / Getty)
With the arrival in the US of the Ebola virus, the American public has demonstrated yet again its ability to unduly wind itself up over any vaguely exotic threat—West Nile, bird flu, anthrax—while ignoring genuine threats like seasonal influenza. The fear has been stoked by the predictable cable-news hyperbole, as well as some alarmist coverage from outlets that should know better. There has been some excellent reporting, too, but unlike when the first West Nile scare descended in 1999, this time around the useful coverage is competing in an informational arena in which social media have created a global megaphone for misinformation, fear-mongering, and the politicization of what is a public-health issue. Another problem: In 1989 there were 95 weekly science sections in US newspapers. By 2012 there were just 19. In 2008, CNN eliminated its entire science team. The Ebola story has underscored the shortsightedness of journalism’s abandonment of specialized science coverage. We need those reasoned, expert voices more than ever.
This story was published in the November/December 2014 issue of CJR with the headline, "Opening Shot."
My candidate for best reporter is Donald G. McNeil Jr. of The NYT. A sample of his work: "Ask Well: Ebola Testing for All New Arrivals?"
Dr. James Heilman of WikiProject Medicine complained to me of much duplication of effort, and of chaos at WHO, which he believes is going to have a lawyer send him a letter because the organization does not like Wikipedia.
Mysteriously, The NYT national desk told me that Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee's op-ed in The NYT on PCR assay would not be relevant to news coverage because of the wall separating editorial and news.
McNeil did get around to Mukherjee, whose op-ed now seems somewhat simplistic.
Columbia is a good indication of the strengths and weaknesses of America. There is an amazing amount of expertise, but shoddy coherence and administrative disarray.
What has emerged dramatically is that the problems with Ebola are being compounded not only by hysteria but also by difficulties in cognition that are not specifically medical.
For example, it is absurd for Columbia to be relying on garbage such as the SAT. Columbia should lead the way, along with West Point, in encouraging high school students to take three consecutive summer courses for admissions credit, at the ends of grades 10-12, on Mark Gluck's "Learning and Memory."
The idea would be not just to assimilate the text but also to develop ability in analysis of cognition in medicine and in design of experiments so as to enhance long-term and working memory. Language plays a critical role in conceptualization in medicine, but mired in the SAT Columbia cannot get high school students interested in the corpus revolution in linguistics.
McNeil does not have a "pat" mind. Too many journalists act as if they have been programmed, muttering about someone having been tested for Ebola without defining the tests as McNeil does.
I am interested in personal protective equipment. The White House should commission a cooperative project for $100 million initially to create a universal suit for Ebola ambulance drivers, nurses, doctors, and military, without the five bare-handed steps in removing the equipment. The USAID $5 million challenge is too weak and disorganized. The project should consult with NASA, Nike, MIT, and Stanford, for example, and run 24 hours a day by forming partnerships around the world.
#1 Posted by C, CJR on Wed 29 Oct 2014 at 11:52 AM
"C" is Clayton Burns, claytonburns@gmail.com
#2 Posted by Clayton Burns, CJR on Wed 29 Oct 2014 at 12:19 PM