Anthrax Spreads Across the U.S.” read a headline inside The Courant last Sunday. At that point, nine people were known to have been exposed to anthrax in Florida, New York and Nevada and two actual cases of the disease had been confirmed.
“It sounds like a raging epidemic,” Elizabeth Foxman of West Hartford said of the headline the next day. By the end of the week, more letters containing anthrax had surfaced at television networks and in the U.S. Senate – amid hundreds of false alarms.
Foxman, contacted later, said she still thought the headline was overstated and that the primary target had been the news media. “I don’t think it’s spread across the U.S.”
When does reporting on actual and possible anthrax infection provide useful information? When does it heighten public fear?
The coverage since the first case was detected Oct. 4 has been extensive – the subject of nearly 100 articles, photographs and charts in The Courant.
A few headlines have been alarmist, including the one about anthrax spreading and its companion, “Anthrax Scares Feed Anxiety,” that ran with the front-page portion of the article.
Words such as “scare,” “anxiety” and “spreads” do instill fear. Anthrax is not contagious. It does not spread from one infected person to another.
Front-page coverage of the Oct. 12 evacuation of state Department of Environmental Protection headquarters prompted another reader complaint. The article reported the FBI’s warning of an imminent terrorist attack and the DEP evacuation under the headline “As Nation Put On Watch, A Scare At State DEP.” The page was dominated by a large photo of a DEP worker being “decontaminated” by another worker, according to the caption.
“It’s just so sensational,” complained Patty Phillips of Willington, emphasizing, as the article reported in the second paragraph, that the “scare” in the headline had actually been a hoax. There was no contamination. The white powder that caused alarm at the DEP was coffee creamer.
By Tuesday, the anxiety and scares had been converted into the more modulated “Anthrax Cases, Hoaxes On Rise.” A DEP worker was charged in federal court with lying about the incident and condemned by Attorney General John Ashcroft during a national press conference. (The likely terrorist attack that was the subject of the vague FBI warning highlighted on the front page never materialized.)
The Associated Press bureau in Connecticut, in grappling last week with which suspicions should be reported, focused on how the public might be affected in any given incident.
“We look at the facts,” said Bureau Chief Elaine Hooker. “Was there a strange substance? Was there a threat? Was there an evacuation? Was there some sort of disruption or consequence to the public? We also look at whether the target is credible. Is it a major corporation or university, an airport or train station, a large media outlet?”
Journalists have learned more about the risks and consequences of anthrax exposure as they continue to report the story, said Courant Editor Brian Toolan.
“We’re all kind of feeling our way through this,” he said. “All journalists are trying to decide what is credible information and what is the product of a bizarre craziness.
“We’ve got to tell people the magnitude of things. We have to be explanatory. We have to tell them what is fearsome and what is not that fearsome. The job of journalism is to bring the right proportions.”
The Courant has tried to keep a balance.
Still, headlines set the tone and send signals to people who may never read a carefully constructed news article. They should reflect the latest developments without attempting to predict the future or deduce the emotional states of others.
The coverage in recent days has become more sober-minded, but could the entire U.S. Capitol have been “shaken,” as Thursday’s front-page headline declared? Meanwhile, “scare” was used in two headlines and a page label Saturday even though neither article used the word and one article, about a false alarm at a Hartford post office, reported that customers calmly went about their business.
Headlines should be as cautious as the search for the source of any anthrax that has been sent. Like the rest of the newspaper, they need to disseminate fact, not serve as a conduit of terror and fear.
