Scaremongering TV


Just wonderful....

Great. This is just what we need. ABC is trotting out a made-for-TV movie about the Bird Flu.



Yes, the tour de force "Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America" will air next week.

Given that little is known about the virus (and that it has killed relatively few people), I am sure that ABC will be careful with how they present the facts, and keep the presentation reasoned and hyperbole free. Color me skeptical, but...not bloody likely.

For evidence that this movie will present the most extreme version of what might happen with the Bird Flu, lets just read ABC's own write up.

First, they say that the film was "meticulously researched". Of course they don't say they actually used that research. In fact, before anything else on the webpage, they state:
Informational Announcement
To date, there have been no cases of the H5N1 virus in the United States nor has there been a human transmission of the disease in a form that could fuel a pandemic. However, experts around the world are monitoring the Avian Flu situation closely and are preparing for the possibility that the virus could begin to spread from person to person. For information on the virus log onto pandemicflu.gov.

So there in the second sentence is the "Get out of Factual Responsibility Free" card. This statement essentially says "We know that there is absolutely NO proof of human transmission, but since there is a "possibility" it could happen, we are going to play that story line to the hilt!"

Now, with a topic that is as potentially serious and frightening as an influenza pandemic, does ABC really think that it is a good idea to lead the debate with a fictional story that doesn't appear as if it will represent the truth as we know it about the topic? How many people will now base their knowledge on the Bird Flu from a television movie written by a guy who also wrote the previous TV blockbusters as "Atomic Twister", "Meat Loaf: To Hell and Back", and "Daydream Believers: The Monkees Story"?

I know that ABC Entertainment and ABC News are different departments, but you think that the newsies would stand up and shout "What the hell are you doing?!?" to ABC's President. Any journalist worth his/her salt should shudder that their network is "educating" the American people with schlock like this.

Posted: Wed - May 3, 2006 at 11:20 PM          

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