Swine flu hogwash and the mass media

So have you heard about this Swine Flu thing? Of course you have. The WHO and the CDC’s of the world combined with the CNN’s and CBC’s have made it impossible not to. Each time I turn on my TV or computer, pick up a newspaper or do anything at all to interact with civilization I find myself being updated on what’s new with it. Even tech blogs and podcasts, where I spend most of my time have gotten into the act of telling us more and more about this perilous threat to the future of civilization. And let’s not even get into the fine role twitter is playing in spreading the “news”.

Now we’ve all seen movies about the outbreak that brings down humanity as we know it (I think 12 Monkeys might be my fav), but will the Swine Flu ultimately be the undoing of this fragile race known as humanity? I’m calling Vegas and putting my money on “no”. I did a little research (ok, a quick Google search) and found that in fact the regular old “People Flu”, among many other ailments, are much more likely to kill you than this latest menace.

So why all the fuss? Because while everyone knows the adage “sex sells”, in the news media, there’s one thing that sells even better – fear. While this has always been the case (remember that CNN made its name covering the first Gulf War 24/7), in a world where media is fragmenting so rapidly, it takes a galvanizing sort of fear to really bring eyeballs to mass media in meaningful numbers. Enter, the swine…

Swine Flu is essentially a break from the last eight months of wall to wall reporting on these depressing economic times. Other than the occasional Obama-inspired story of optimism sprinkled in, the mainstream media has been pulling up its ratings by scaring the crap out of us, reminding us how we’re all going to lose our jobs as capitalism hits the toilet. When the WHO recently raised its Swine Flu alertness level from “3″ to “4″ (I have no idea what this, in fact, means) a new panic bell went off. One that mainstream media was more than happy to capitalize on.

Let’s be honest, as a society, we’re generally pretty passive. We like to believe all is well so we can go about our day, go to our jobs, watch a little TV, maybe go out for dinner – basically not worry about anything if we don’t have to. However, when the opportunity to worry – for whatever reason – presents itself, the average person will raise an eyebrow. When this worry is attached to the word “pandemic”, our docile society feels compelled to stay tuned to CNN to wait for the cue to stock up on water and dry goods, sound the doomsday siren and head to the bomb shelter.

So why the overexposure? There’s no longer an appetite for niche content in the mainstream media. Blogs and other smaller outlets have taken over that function. When people want information on a specific topic, they fire up their trusty Google and look for the expert who will bring it to them. This has lead mass media down an increasingly desperate path to drum up mass audience through the prospect of crisis that effects us at an individual level. As niche content spreads itself thinly across the interwebs, the phenomenon is only amplified. The mainstream folks need to find something that’s going to grab and hold the interest of this passive bunch we call society en mass. And what better angle than something that takes away your livelihood, your life or the life of someone you love?!? It’s certainly worth more than an eyebrow raise to the Average Joe, and for the newsnets, it means those eyebrows will be raising collectively to watch their coverage. Check mate.

Remember the Avian Flu? Y2K? In spite of endless, intensive media coverage, we’re still here. Swine Flu is just the latest in a long line of scare tactics that you can expect to continue. They’ve always said that advertising is based solely on fear, but more and more, mainstream media is trending the same way. If this post wasn’t enough to convince you otherwise, maybe you should just head down to the bomb shelter, lay off the bacon, and poke your head out in about 3 months. We should be all clear by then…