Risking our safety to gather news

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Emily Joseph

By EMILY JOSEPH

Journalists have been known to go to great lengths to report breaking news. From standing on the front lines of war to sustaining a hurricane, journalists don’t back down from challenges.

With that being said, when is it enough? Where is the line that can protect them from serious harm?

The recent health crisis of Ebola has once again brought the issue of journalism safety to the forefront. Unfortunately (and ironically) NBC journalists went from just reporting the story to being the story.

Ashoka Mukpo, a freelance photographer for NBC News, was infected with Ebola while working in Liberia with a team of reporters. He was transported back to the U.S. and is thankfully okay, but there are thousands of people who have not been so lucky (predominately in West Africa).

After being pronounced “Ebola free,” Mukpo tweeted “I don’t regret going to Liberia to cover the crisis. That country was a second home to me and I had to help raise the alarm.”

His selflessness and dedication can be seen as honorable or crazy to some. Some people don’t want to put their lives on the line for the news. But others, like Mukpo, find a deeper story. They don’t just want to report, they want to help people.

I’m torn between fully supporting their desires and insisting they see a professional. Yet maybe I’m not at the point in my life or career where I understand their actions. In fact, I one day hope to be so passionate about something that I would “die” for it. Most likely that passion won’t be reporting, but instead my future family. Nevertheless I commend those who want to report on and raise awareness for issues throughout the world.

Is America prepared to handle Ebola?

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Katherine Fernandes

By KATHERINE FERNANDES

Being a developed country and a world power, we are not taking the necessary steps to prevent Ebola from spreading throughout the country.

In hospitals, there is lack of coordination including the limited training of staff. Moreover, the overconfidence in American hospitals has been another issue.

One of the so-called “prepared hospitals” missed warning signs of the first Ebola patient Thomas Duncan, who first went showing diarrhea and vomit symptoms in Dallas hospital. By the time Duncan was diagnosed with Ebola, it was too late because two nurses who were taking care of him became infected even though they used the “necessary protecting equipment.”

We are not just talking about three Ebola patients from Dallas. There are other people that have been exposed to these infected people, including a school teacher from Ohio who had contact with one of the nurses.

Wasn’t America all ready for this?

Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said “Ebola poses little risk to the U.S. general population. We know how to stop Ebola with strict infection control practices which are already in widespread use in American hospitals.”

As said before there was an excess of confidence in U.S. hospitals, which suggested nearly every American hospital would be ready to receive Ebola patients. Today, this is not what we are seeing. There are many doubts about the ability of hospitals to handle such patients here in the U.S.

Health officials are only relying on the four “specialized hospitals centers” to treat this virus.

If hospitals in the U.S. were really prepared for this illness, why the two nurses who contracted Ebola in Dallas were transferred to two of the four highly specialized hospitals here? Weren’t the hospitals in such a big state such as Texas prepared to treat Ebola? Probably not.

We should note that the four hospitals equipped to treat patients with Ebola are located in Georgia, Nebraska, Maryland and Montana. They have the capacity to treat approximately 10 patients at one time. What if this disease spreads throughout the country? Only four hospitals in one of the most developed countries in the world would be able to treat Ebola patients?

What if Americans become ill abroad and are brought here for treatment and there is insufficient space in “equipped hospitals” because of people that got infected here?

Nigeria is now Ebola-free. This is an example of a country that took the necessary measures to overcome Ebola. In contrast to the U.S, Nigeria knew it was possible that this virus traveled to their country, and that’s why health care workers received the essential training before the virus hit the country.

The nation’s largest health care workers’ union said Wednesday that 85 percent of surveyed nurses feel they are not prepared to deal with the deadly Ebola virus. These feelings of unsafety among heath workers can have consequences in the way health workers treat this fatal virus on infected people.

Based on these nurse’s responses, there is insufficient levels of preparation to handle Ebola. Some nurses said the training to deal with Ebola was limited to a 10-minute course in which they couldn’t ask questions. Other nurses said their training was from e-mails with links to the website of the CDC.

Nurses also said that hospitals don’t have the necessary equipment to ensure their safety. If we are not having the equipment needed for protection in hospitals, health workers will continue infecting.

So, what will happen? Health care workers will stop going to work because of the danger of working in a highly contagious environment in which they do not receive the essential training to deal with Ebola.

If health workers aren’t feeling safe with the equipment they are provided, Americans are not going to feel safe in hands of them and these health care workers would prefer to save themselves from being infected than from saving a life of an Ebola patient.

The CDC should be doing more to prepare doctors and hospitals. The number of biocontainment unit beds that we count on now is not sufficient enough to a worst-case scenario.

Although the CDC doesn’t want to create panic about this illness, they really need to develop better measures to protect and train health care workers; and even more when doctors and nurses in the U.S. are not used to treat Ebola. If a good training is not provided, Ebola could become an epidemic regardless of the skilled medical technologies that we have.

Ebola virus now threatens U.S.

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Xuanchen Fan

By XUANCHEN FAN

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission. The first EVD outbreaks occurred in remote villages in Central Africa, near tropical rain forests. Currently, the virus is threatening the United Sates.

On Sept. 30, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), announces the first diagnosed case of Ebola in the United States. Then government officially release the name of the first diagnosed: Thomas Eric Duncan. Unfortunately, Duncan died of Ebola in Dallas on Oct. 8.

Then, on Oct. 10, Nina Pham, a healthcare worker at Texas Presbyterian Hospital tested positive for Ebola. Another nurse, Amber Vinson, who treated Duncan became the third person diagnosed with the virus.

The government has done much to protect citizens from Ebola virus. Since Sept. 29, the U.S. military sent 4,000 troops to West African to establish treatment centers, which are called Expeditionary Medical Support Systems (EMSS).

At the same time, airports in New York, Newark, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta are examining certain international passengers for fever. The main target is West African visitors.

Lisa Monaco, assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, sent a brief announcement that “We are not facing just a health crisis –– We are facing a national security priority.”

As for President Obama, he has directly kept sending military to West Africa. The president is personally and actively demanding more troops to fight the disease.

The use of the military increases discontent among citizens.

“We make no apologies for being deliberate about the use of force, particularly when it engages the United States in conflicts in a region like the Middle East,” deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes told CNN’s “The Situation Room” on Monday. “The American people want a president who is going to think hard before making those decisions who …. makes sure he is drawing from the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan.”

However, it is interesting that some merchants use the virus situation to sell Ebola productions. For instance, one merchant printed “Ebola” on a handbag and other accessories.

Infographics help tell the story

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Gabriella Shofer

By GABRIELLA SHOFER

News reporting does not just mean providing the facts.

News reporters are responsible for providing factual information about events occurring in the world in an easily comprehensible manner. All too often, news reports complicate the matter further, distorting the public’s perception of the issue at hand.

A particularly relevant example of this is the reporting on the spread of the Ebola virus, that has been covered by the media during the past month. Updates about the disease are continually reported, however, instead of providing information about the disease, many of the articles are written in a way that increases fear in the public about the disease and how it can affect them.

However, a recent notable exception was the The New York Times article that provided more in depth information about the disease, particularly through the use of infographics. Aptly titled, Q & A, the article refutes rumors about the scale of the outbreak of Ebola around the world by using a question and answer format.

The graphic answers the most common questions that are currently being asked about Ebola and provides simplified explanations about the science behind the disease. This format demonstrates the fundamental principle of news reporting in informing the public, rather than providing misleading information that complicates the situation through the use of scientific jargon.

Answers to the questions are further enhanced through the use of graphs, tables, timelines and diagrams, which clarify the situation for the reader. By presenting the facts in this way, The New York Times illustrates the situation in a more clear and concise manner and ensures that readers are informed.

While creating these visual representations of the facts and figures is time consuming, it ultimately provides a more valuable news report for the public while simultaneously foregrounding the publication’s position as a reputable source of information.

Ebola scare hits close to home

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Meaghan McClure

By MEAGHAN McCLURE

As with any troubling issue, it only really starts to shake you once it hits close to home. This was definitely the case with the Ebola coverage in the news media lately.

Ebola had always had a constant presence in the news media – about the outbreaks in Liberia and other faraway African countries, but it was always one of those news stories on the back-burner. The status of the virus was constantly updated, and although it was always concerning, it was never a major concern for the average American.

However, with the first U.S. case reported in Dallas, news coverage is definitely now telling a different story.

All the major news outlets, like CNN for example, have multiple articles about the deadly spreading of the virus on the front pages and home sites. Once we as the public heard about the Dallas case, there were then talks about other possible cases in the Miami airport and in Washington, D.C.

Now, instead of just hearing how the Ebola virus was affecting different countries in a very general way, we are learning about the victims of Ebola, possible Ebola cases, what the virus is, how it spreads, and so forth. Once the first U.S. case bell was rung, the media jumped on the case, making Ebola possibly one of the most news media-covered stories today.

This just shows how one incident, like the Dallas case, can change how the news media covers a certain topic to accommodate and generate public interest. It also shows the closer a story hits home, the more interest the story will have.

Ebola: America’s scariest word

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Autumn Robertson

By AUTUMN ROBERTSON

The Ebola scare has gotten worse than ever and the news media are only adding lumber to the fire.

Saying the word ‘Ebola” around a large group of people might as well be the same as someone saying “Bomb!” in a movie theater. That word evokes so much fear among American citizens more than ever due to the recent discovery of Americans who have recently contacted the disease.

And what’s the news media’s role in this? They find every story about someone who has contacted the disease, write a story highlighting the name of the person, the area that they are from, how many people that they may have become in contact with, and continue to scare people.

People argue that the reporters are just doing their job, but I beg to differ. The news media’s job isn’t to scare people, but to inform people on what the disease is and how they can actually contact it.

As the number of affected Americans continue to rise, more federal health organizations continue to release information on how the disease is spread because large media groups fail to include how getting Ebola can actually happen.

This goes back to a common tactic that journalists use to get readership: sensationalism. If journalists think that more people will be interested in reading about a certain issue, they will amplify the story to get more readership. People love to stay informed, but the easiest way to draw in an audience that wants information is to scare them a little, so they can keep coming back for more.

Today, reporters announced that an Ebola patient is being contained at a hospital on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. I know many students that attend Howard, including my sister. Not only is she scared and worried about contacting the disease, her fellow classmates are feeling the same way.

The media failed to include information to these students on why the person is being contained and the safety precautions that the school will be taking to keep the students safe. The media dropped the news like a bomb and people are scattering around for information.

That is not very fair of the news media, which have a platform that they should use to inform rather than to scare. They should focus on creating more material used to help people than creating a scandalous story.

Diction and bias in Ebola news

Posted on September 27, 2014 by Shivani Aluru

By SHIVANI ALURU

The tendency for Western reporters to frame news within a Western perspective is completely expected, but presents a problem in terms of bias. When the lens that a person views the world through is so intuitive and as instinctual as breathing, it is difficult to separate facts from perceived truths. Perceived truths, in this instance, are what people fundamentally believe is real and true despite any lack of pure factual evidence.

A pressing example of this problem has emerged in the Ebola news circulation. Whatever the medium from newspapers to five-minute YouTube clips, nearly every report frames the Ebola outbreak and the handful of American and European cases as the fault of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, including several news outlets that have also conflated the area into “West Africa.”

This overwhelming pattern is dangerous especially in the case of Africa, a continent that has long been subjected to Western prejudices and is still working towards elevating its status in the world. The average person in the U.S. often lenses Africa as a place of terrible poverty, war and chaos and this perspective is highly toxic. It permeates every facet of life and in particular news. The curious thing about presenting Ebola news in the U.S. is that everything comes back to vaguely racial tones, despite the fact that Ebola affects most humans the same way. Regardless of physical location, importance or appearance pretty much every human will die the same way if he or she contracts Ebola, making every news report that hints at American invincibility almost funny.

There are no reasonable solutions to this problem, at least not ones that wouldn’t take years to see through, and as such this entire issue become food for thought, specifically concerning how subtle word choices can affect the direction of a piece.

Journalism always has a vaguely emotional tone because humans are emotional by nature and all biases, despite striving to keep them covered, show through.

Is eating disorder news risky?

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Vivian Braga

By VIVIAN BRAGA

It is no secret that Hollywood is an image-based industry and consequently a home to a large community of disordered eaters who strongly believe their careers depend on the adherence of an unhealthy nutrition in order to have the body profile idealized by the news media and admired by the public.

“What are you going to eat once this whole thing is over?” is common red carpet correspondent joke when interviewing Hollywood’s skinniest stars. But now, as technology makes the world each day more public, we now have access to these Celebrities battle to remain thin on a daily basis and the pressures they face to have the perfect body are very great.

Stars like Mary-Kate Olsen, Demi Lovato, Lady Gaga and Amanda Bynes have in the past year announced and renounced their constant battles with food. These “confessions” are usually perceived by the public as acts of “bravery, inspiration and power” and met with applause and admiration.

While these adjectives certainly do ring a bell, stars don’t realize that talking so openly about their eating disorders may possibly bring more harm than good.

“Our culture needs to think of thinness as a potential sign of disease,” said Dr. Marcia Herrin, founder of the Dartmouth College Eating Disorders Prevention.

She further added, “It’s interesting. Its such a mixed message that they give: I used to have an eating disorder. And usually the person who is saying it is very thin. My sense is that we just assume they all have eating disorders.”

Nowadays, stars like Adele, who portray real life beauty, are hard to find. As a society, we have arrived at a time where most of our idols and role models are unrealistically thin and we accept and also obsess over the fact that they’re all likely to be physically and mentally ill.

The news media’s affect on body image has caused severe implications on young teenage girls making them believe that in order to achieve success they must be thin. And this is when these eating disorder confessions coming from celebrities can be problematic.

Young girls watch celebrities like Demi Lovato who has publicly admitted to have dealt with anorexia and bulimia since the age of 7, skyrocket to fame and remain with a constant food battle and perceive this as “inspiring”.

For every young girl that may feel inspired to seek for help after listening to these celebrity confessions, another one could be mislead by their words and use them as an example to build their own eating disorder.

“For the person who has the kind of genetic predisposition, when they hear that story they say, ‘I knew it took an eating disorder to get there, and I’m not going to believe that you can be okay and love yourself without being that thin’”. Said Keesha Broome, licensed marriage and family therapist.

I personally believe that since these stars play such a huge role in teenage girls lives, providing support and encouragement for them to share their body insecurities and find acceptance can be empowering, motivating and is essential.

But, publicly confessing eating disorders not only make these themselves look insecure and weak but also promote a behavior that can be dangerous to young girls influenced by the media.

Coverage of Ultra lacks details

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Nicole Lopez-Alvar

By NICOLE LOPEZ-ALVAR

In 2013, about two dozen young adults were hospitalized after attending Ultra Music Festival in downtown Miami — but the media refused to cover these instances.

While rumors of overdoses, deaths and injuries rotate among numerous social media websites every year during Ultra Music Festival, no major news corporations seem to cover such events.

In order to find out whether the rumors are true, local Miami news organizations such as Miami New Times, investigated into the matter. Reporters discovered that Miami Fire Rescue did not have full information in regards to the matter other than that out of the 44 placed calls to 911, only 24 people were taken to the hospital. According to the Miami New Times:

“Police arrested 167 people at Ultra this year [in 2013], primarily for narcotics and gatecrashing. (Last year [in 2012], there were 78 arrests during the three-day event, 45 of them for narcotics, and more than 60 people were injured last year [in 2012].”

While these statistics are valid, they are not covered by the media nearly enough. People from the ages of 15 to 40 are attending this festival and many are doing so blindly of the health and safety risks the event entails. From the lack of transportation and water, to the non-existent cellular data service and overcrowding, the festival can be more dangerous than people think.

Yet, every year, thousands of electronic music fans from around the world continue to purchase $400 tickets for a three-day weekend where they most likely will get more sweat from surrounding attendees jumping to the beats of the music than they bargained for.

This weekend, March 28-30, there will most likely be ambulances on the festival grounds, but even more alarming will be the lack of reporters on the scene to document it.

FDA proposes new food labels

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Sofia Ortega

By SOFIA ORTEGA

It is funny how food companies trick costumers with their food labels by only listing amount per servings and the calories of the portion.

But, do people really have time to split the package by portions?

Most people would eat an entire bag of Doritos without knowing the calories for the whole bag, and what is true for many. People do not really take the time to split the bag of Doritos into the servings listed in the nutritional label.

However, it seems that from now on people are really going to know and understand the amount of calories they consume.

For the first time since 1990s, the federal Food and Drug Administration proposed changes to the food labels required to appear in the back of each package in order to reflect the real quantities Americans eat daily.

The label will be redesigned making it easier for consumers to understand it. Some packages will be required to show the amount per serving and per package, percent values will be shown on a left column, the amount of calories will be bigger, added sugars will have to be labeled, as well as the percentage of Vitamin D and potassium.

The FDA announced the new requirements at Michelle Obama’s fourth anniversary ceremony of her campaign “Let’s Move” destined to reduce obesity in the country.

“Our guiding principle here is very simple: that you as a parent and a consumer should be able to walk into a grocery store, pick an item off the shelf, and tell whether it’s good for your family,”

In the United States, data from a study made in 2010 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that 69.2 percent of adults of 20-years-old and older are overweight or obese.

The attempts of reducing obesity rates offer multiply benefits for the country. Of course, if obesity rates decrease there will be less people suffering or dying from diabetes, heart diseases, strokes and even cancer.

The changes may impact enormously food companies. Some business will reduce the amount of food per package to not loose costumers. Showing the real nutritional information will alarm people making them more aware of what they are really eating.

News coverage of dangerous trends

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Nicole Hood

By NICOLE HOOD

In the last year, CNN has covered two dangerous trends: a game called “Knockout” and another called “Neknominate.”

Knockout is a dangerous game that CNN started covering in November 2013. It entails one individual (generally in a group of teenagers) going up to a stranger and punching them with the intention of knocking them out instantaneously.

CNN has also reported that Knockout has caused more than one death in the Northeastern states of the US. Videos of teenagers doing this generally come from security cameras on streets, and news coverage showed these videos with the intention of exposing the game and impressing upon people really how lethal and irrational the game can be.

Neknominate, on the other hand, is a drinking game that has become trendy through social media. Videos are easily accessible and abundant on the internet. Here, an individual generally downs a hefty amount of alcohol mixed with something else, takes a video of it and, upon finishing the drink, the individual nominates a friend to out-do them within the next 24 hours.

Videos show teenagers not only downing usual mixed drinks but, in an effort to out-do their friends, players have mixed in their drink with a dead mouse, goldfish, insects, engine oil and dog food. Five people have died from playing this game, all being men under the age of 30. News coverage battles social media and the spread of this openly videoed social trend.

While players of one game generally avoid social media (for the risk involved of going to jail or juvy), players of another game use social media as a form of pressure to encourage others to play. Either way, the news reporters step in not only to report what is happening but to prevent others from participating in social trends that appeal to one’s (generally teenager’s) dangerous need to prove themselves to their friends or to the public.

In my last blog post, I wrote about the dangers of news pieces including certain social topics. In this post, however, I’d like to acknowledge how using social topics in the news can put a much needed negative spin on social trends. Of course, these social trends are newsworthy partially because the harm coming from them are not temporary but rather fatal, and most players don’t realize that.

People who watch these videos of Neknominate on Facebook might see it as an exciting challenge or other, uninvolved viewers might find it fascinating that someone would drink liquor out of a toilet or successfully drink something with a dead rat in it.

The news’ video compilation presents the same content but instead of a bunch of kids sitting around a computer oohing and aahing at a friend doing something nasty, the video shows a wider audience how Neknominating is fickle and dangerous.

Sources:

CVS switches to tobacco-free stores

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Sofia Ortega

By SOFIA ORTEGA

The second-largest drugstore group in the country, CVS, announced that by October the company would stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products in all of its stores. And it has generated quite a bit of news media attention this week.

“We came to the decision that cigarettes and providing health care just don’t go together in the same setting”, stated Larry J. Merlo, CEO of CVS Caremax.

It is projected that the company will take away 17 cents in profits per share of stock a year. To make up the revenue loss, the company will start this spring a smoking termination program to help Americans get over the habit.

In 2000, the company opened MinuteClinic, the first retail medical clinics in the country, offering its service in more than 800 CVS pharmacies. As it is hoping to open 700 more by 2017, it was crucial to position CVS Caremax tobacco-free to seek the growth of the company.

ChangeLab Solutions, a nonprofit organization that offers legal evidence about public health stated that more than 400,000 American die each year due to smoking, and that unfortunately, the rate has remained stagnant over the last ten years.

But, will CVS decision help lower the smoking rate in the U.S.?

Unfortunately, most of the tobacco purchase is done in convenience stores. Therefore, CVS’s contribution to promote a tobacco-free generation will mostly mark their transition to be recognized as a health care company rather than just another drugstore.

However, the decision of a leading pharmacy chain to stop the sale of tobacco products will probably resonate in different states to independent groups as an opportunity to fight for a law that prohibit drugstores from selling these products.

Most Americans have a drugstore only five miles from home. Since studies have shown that -the more tobacco retailers, the higher smoking rates-. Prohibiting the sale of tobacco in drugstores will automatically reduce smoking rates.

A pharmacy’s goal should be to look for the health of the population; therefore, their stock should go according to the company’s goal and not obstruct it.

As President Obama said, CVS decision will help advance the “efforts to reduce tobacco- related deaths, cancer, and heart disease, as well as bring down health care costs- ultimately saving lives and protecting untold numbers of families from pain and heartbreak for years to come.”

Care needed in covering NFL drug policy

Posted on February 5, 2014 by John Rioux

By JOHN RIOUX

The risks and benefits of marijuana use to treat injuries has become a major debate in National Football League circles. With the recent increase in awareness about concussions, marijuana is being looked at as an option to treat these often-occurring injuries.

While most NFL reporters are familiar covering statistics from games, this issue brings a political discussion that is taking place in our government right now.

Journalists must approach this topic with caution, as there is no concrete evidence to suggest that it is either helpful or harmful to remedy injuries. It is however time for not only doctors, but journalists to closely examine the effects it could potentially have as a useful substance.

Super Bowl-winning Seattle Seahawks’ Coach Pete Carroll agrees with this notion saying, “the world of medicine is trying to do the exact same thing and figure it out and they’re coming to some conclusions.”

While marijuana might not be a useful medicine to utilize, the addiction to painkillers that many NFL players deal with proves there is a need for change. Former offensive lineman Kyle Turley recalls after games “ The trainers and the doctors used to go down the aisle [of the plane] and say, ‘Who needs what?” in regard to substances such as Vicodin.

While this is a touchy subject to report on, it is critical the news media communicate the findings medical researchers and doctors have about this substance. With the league currently continuing to look for ways to increase player safety, we have to know if they will go to extreme lengths that may be unpopular with fans of the game.

The political argument does not matter if the risks outweigh the benefits. Football is a lethal sport and if the new findings prove any advantages in helping with the injuries that occur, they must be taken advantage of.

There will be reporters scared of the repercussions the NFL might set down on them if they publish a story that negatively affects them, but that does not matter. The people have the right to know what this new-found research proves.

Mental illness, media in today’s society

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Alexandra Silver

By ALEXANDRA SILVER

Just yesterday, a young boy who was attending a middle school in Nevada, wounded two students, shot and killed his teacher and then proceeded to kill himself in a random act of violence.

This is a devastating story as a little under a year ago, 26 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Although the shooter was much younger in this case, the concept of mental illness is still at the forefront of our minds.

Is violence directly linked to mental illness’ and ‘are all mentally ill people potentially dangerous’ are the questions circulating through the news media and in every household after the recent shooting in both Nevada and Connecticut.

Many researchers, psychologists and news programs immediately turned to the idea that untreated mental illness and our countries failing mental health system are the main reasons these massacres occur.

We ask ourselves many questions; are these mass murders preventable? If our society was more accepting to responding to the issue of mental illness, could we prevent school, mall, and movie theater shootings? Many of us are afraid to reference mental illness as a cause for violence, as we do not want to insult or put blame on those who do in fact have a mental illness.

There are certain disorders, which can create manic behavior, while other mental illnesses are harmless to others. By accusing those with mental illness, we are successfully convincing the public that all those who suffer from one are dangerous and capable of killing others. This idea, of course, is false, but our country faces the challenge of preventing these issues.

DIGITAL NEWS REPORTING

Journalism and Media Management Department, School of Communication, University of Miami

Tag Archives: Healthcare-health communication