How COVID-19 has changed news reporting
Mia Malan |
TEDxJohannesburgSalon
• December 2020
For journalist Mia Malan, reporting on health is like holding a mirror to society. Through the work that she and others like her do, we get to see exactly what society looks like, warts and all. With South Africa and Africa having experienced so many epidemics in the recent past, what, fundamentally, is different about reporting on COVID-19? Mia chooses to focus her answer on HIV, and lists two big differences with COVID-19. Firstly, HIV is a slow-moving epidemic, and COVID-19 is much faster. The effect is that in the case of the latter, research comes out at the speed of light. As a result, peer review often lags behind. This sometimes casts uncertainty over the science, leading to reporting that is routinely subject to correction. With the former, reporting enjoys the benefits that come with having enough time to review and publish any findings. Secondly, in South Africa specifically, the biggest difference is in how the government has responded to each outbreak. In the case of COVID-19, the response has been evidence-based, in stark contrast to the heavily politicised nature of the initial response to HIV, back in the 1990s. As a bonus, Mia closes with a silver lining. She makes the point that with every aspect of life so fundamentally affected by the pandemic, COVID-19 has given every news report a science dimension, bringing the subject deeper into our homes in ways that are unprecedented. For that, we can be grateful.