The media we consume influences our compliance with Covid-19 recommendations. Poor media coverage in Victoria is impeding the state’s recovery.
Three months ago, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews fronted his daily press conference and announced a record 723 new cases of Covid-19 overnight. That number has now fallen to just two in Victoria. This has been achieved in the face of a campaign from the media and the Liberal Party, state and federal, to undermine the state government’s response.
Trust in the government is crucial to citizens adhering to restrictions that are central to controlling the spread of Covid-19. The media typically has an important role in that process: theoretically, the government cannot act too outlandishly for fear of public backlash.
But when ownership of the media is so heavily concentrated in the hands of a few, as is the situation in Australia, the absence of diversity can make it difficult for contrasting views to be given equal airtime. This can undermine the public health messaging and response, as the stubborn embers of Victoria’s second wave of Covid-19 are smothered. And the coverage of Covid-19 in recent months has been far from balanced, nor even accurate.
The Australian ran an article linking the Black Lives Matter protest to Covid-19 outbreaks in the Flemington housing commission apartments, while The Herald Sun suggested the source of the spread from hotel quarantine was a security guard having sex with a returned traveller. Neither story is correct, but they remain online. And as with any falsehood, once repeated enough times they are taken as the truth.
Sky News ran a headline in late September stating that the hotel quarantine inquiry “finds” the government responsible for deaths of 768 people. Again, false. The inquiry is not set to release its findings until November. This one at least was subsequently updated to “hears” that the government was responsible.
Sky Host Paul Murray also claimed on air that death by suicide is on the rise – again, the data does not stack up. There may be an increase in mental health issues in Victoria, but not of suicide.
The Australian published modelling it claimed was leaked from the Victorian government, warning of thousands of cases a day in weeks to come. It bore a striking resemblance to a graph posted on Twitter.
Phil Coorey, in an article published in the Australian Financial Review, likened Victorians’ support for Premier Andrews to the cult-like support of Donald Trump. ABC Breakfast presenter Michael Rowland tweeted an endorsement of the article.
The media coverage in recent months has undoubtedly polarised Victoria. But it is ludicrous to liken those who support the actions of a government that has imposed strict lockdowns to successfully contain the spread of the pandemic to those supporting a president whose lack of action has seen the pandemic take more than 200,000 American lives.
Polls – with all the caveats required – consistently show a majority of Victorians support Andrews. So much was made of a poll in The Age showing a supposed collapse in support for Andrews and which was seized on by Sky News host Chris Kenny. Media Watch demolished the poll by demonstrating how it was besieged by bots, yet Kenny has yet to retract his claims.
In recent days, the “report” that the World Health Organisation “backflipped” on its stance on lockdowns has gained prominent coverage. But, again, it was taken out of context and used to undermine the patience of Victorians in lockdown.
The statement was not officially endorsed by the WHO, but was a comment from a doctor from the WHO that lockdowns should not be the “primary” method of Covid-19 control. They shouldn’t. They aren’t. Test, trace and isolate remains the primary method of control: lockdowns are to bring the numbers down to a level where this can be achievable. The WHO backflipped on nothing; lockdowns remain an effective tool for suppressing virus spread.
Research published last week found that partisan coverage affects compliance with measures to halt the spread of Covid-19. Compared to those who trust CNN in America, those trusting Fox News were less likely to engage in behaviour that stopped the spread of infection, and more likely to behave in a way that promoted the spread of the virus.
Take the new cluster in Shepparton. Patient zero did not mention they had travelled to Shepparton, leaving the virus to circulate undetected. Andrews has stated there will be no punishment for those who are honest with contact tracers. Meanwhile, Nine Entertainment has run a headline stating that Premier Andrews “will come after you” if you break the rules. The messaging from the government could be clearer, but in a public health crisis the media also has an important role to play in communicating clear and consistent messages.
The Liberal party has also tried to undermine public trust. One Victorian MP posted cards appearing to target Labor leaders that bore a striking resemblance to “catch and kill” cards used by the USA in Iraq to target Al-Qaeda members. Another planted Australian flags to represent the 790 Victorians who lost their lives. Yet most of these deaths were in aged care homes, which fall under federal responsibility.
Alan Tudge and Josh Frydenberg have also taken to Twitter to express their concern over the mental health of Victorians. As human services minister in 2016-17, Tudge oversaw the Robodebt scheme. The Department told a Senate committee that more than 2,000 people died after receiving Robodebt letters.
The deaths included a spate of suicides, largely among young people.
Frydenberg has refused to commit to continuing the coronavirus supplement beyond December, saying it will depend on the state of the job market. Yet before the pandemic, there were more than 700,000 people who were unemployed who were trying to exist on less than $40 a day, some 30% below the poverty rate. Poverty and unemployment are the great drivers of mental health issues, not lockdowns.
It is undeniable that there have been major failings by the Andrews government. The hotel quarantine let Covid-19 out; the response was run from a logistic, not a health, point of view; contact tracing has been under-resourced and inadequate, while government’s messaging on who should get tested remains confusing. These are the issues that the opposition should be pinning the government down on, forcing Labor to improve. The opposition hasn’t, until today (October 16) when Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien released his alternative roadmap.
Accountability and criticism are important, but for the benefit of all Victorians these should occur in a calmer atmosphere.
Michael Tanner is completing a Doctor of Medicine/Doctor of Philosophy. His writing explores the intersection of economics, the media and public health. His writing has also been published in The Age. Michael’s Twitter handle is @MichaelTanner_
Comments
4 responses to “Megaphone Madness: how reckless media impeded Victoria’s Covid-19 recovery”
The media are the major conveyors of information to the public. The voice of health and sanitary expertise has been getting through, and has just managed to prevail in Australia over the counterproductive stuff (the usual anti-state propaganda coming from sectional interests dishonestly passing themselves off as the public interest). The Victorian State’s actions have been shaped largely by public-health expertise, but were damaged when the an administrative decision was affected by liberal propaganda.
In China, despite the initial disadvantage of being uncertain that they had a serious epidemic on their hands, the state quickly put itself under the control of the voice of public-health expertise, and used its power over the media to bring the public under the same control. The first and subsequent outbreaks have been defeated with comparative ease. In Britain, Europe, and the US, the control of sectional interests over the media (and the state) is just too strong to enable enough concerted public-health action to succeed against the pandemic.
The crux of the matter is not state versus sectional interests, because the state can become a damaging section of society whose interest is adverse to that of the public. The crux is that expertise that is in the public interest should prevail, whoever facilitates it.
The Liberal party and it’s supporters in the media are a death cult. They have argued in favour of killing untold numbers of Victorians in the hope it will win them some votes. They have used people’s death and suffering to try and score political points. Their irresponsible disregard for the lives of Victorians is a disgrace.
How can we Victorians possibly trust a government that has displayed such incompetence and mismanagement, then used lies and deception to try to hide it?
Don’t mention the war!