Fall 2014, Term 1
Media & Hype
The zombie apocalypse may be a debated phenomenon. However, that doesn’t mean the world isn’t ending. That is, according to United States media at least. Flip through channels on your television, navigate your newsfeed on Facebook, or share what’s trending on Twitter, and you’ll understand that if ISIS won’t destroy America, Ebola will finish the job. What’s perhaps even more frightening is that a vast majority of Americans; educated, practical, and rationally thinking Americans, have jumped on this bandwagon to “protect” our great land from the fearful terrorist group and deadly virus. However, has anyone ever challenged the threat level these issues pose? Has anyone questioned the idea, that perhaps more threatening issues are already prevalent though our society? Traditionally, this burden falls on journalism, to explore and expose the true problems in a society. However, media outlets, rather than practically and truthfully reporting on these issues, are instead perpetuating half-fact rumors. This ultimately begs the question: Has American media lost the true essence of journalism, the objective spreading of information? Does it choose only to focus on that which capitalizes viewership?
According to a statement by a spokesperson for the National Institute of Health, "The chances of an average American who hasn't visited Africa getting Ebola are so vanishingly small, it's almost non-quantitative". So why has the media ensured that nearly every news report since the outbreak in Africa reinforce the idea that the Ebola virus is a threat to the American people? It’s simple; stories like these have every aspect of drama that the American audience so desperately yearns for. Suspense and uncertainty about the future, threat levels that appear deadly, and stress about the state of the nation, all effectively use ethos to play