Misinformation in the Media: Is Our Freedom of Press More Important than Our Lives?

With over 3 million cases in the United States alone, it is no question that the Covid-19 Pandemic has, and will continue to, alter our way of life. But with a massive amount of information being presented every second, on every platform, how will American citizens know what information they can actually trust? 

Our nation’s largest media sources, such as CNN and Fox News, have become so politicized in our current political climate that it is impossible for them to report on anything without creating an air of controversy. This is extremely harmful in a situation like the Covid-19 pandemic, in which the citizens of the United States deserve to hear nothing but the facts as it pertains to this immensely deadly disease. 

With such conflicting information in the media, many have started to view the virus as nothing but a “hoax” surrounded by political scandal. This has only led to an increase in Coronavirus cases and deaths. 

For example, Fox News’ Sean Hannity was quoted saying very contradictory statements, only a week apart from one another. On March 8th Hennity stated, “Let’s bludgeon Trump with this new hoax…” referring to the Coronavirus and it’s severity. While a week later, he was quoted saying, “This program has always taken the coronavirus seriously and we’ve never called it a hoax”. 

This one example demonstrates the conflict happening even within a singular media source, which will only lead to confusion for it’s viewers. However, it was found in a study that citizens who consistently consumed far-right media content tended to have low concern about the virus. This clearly shows that without a stable and non-political news source that creates a clear line of communication between the people and the government, different information will spread to different people, creating an even harsher divide between parties. 

Many United States political figures, such as president Trump, have discouraged this direct line of communication by bashing federal health organizations like the CDC, which are meant to remain non-political. By undermining this organization, President Trump has further politicized this pandemic, leading many U.S. citizens to blindly follow the information given to them by their preferred political news source. 

But how would the U.S. government limit the amount of misinformation spread in the media? 

Well, when comparing the reactions of other countries to the reactions of the United States during this pandemic, it can be seen that many nations, such as Taiwan, have taken affirmative action to make sure that they are effectively communicating all important information and statistics directly to their citizens. 

In Taiwan, they used a system of daily press briefings, held by the minister of health and welfare, as well as regular public broadcasts by the vice president which were made available on the internet for easier access. With these measures, all Taiwaniese citizens were able to hear constant Covid-19 updates coming straight from their government, which eliminated confusion and conspiracies. 

But how does one control the amount of false information without completely limiting freedom of press?

Like the Taiwanese government, the United States could take simple steps to create a more direct line of communication between the government/health officials and the citizens themselves. However, they could also act to remove blatant and disproven lies from powerful media sources. Lies such as masks do not work and it only kills the elderly, which pollute the public’s opinion on the seriousness of this virus. Media sources, such as Fox News and CNN should be regulated by the government in order to keep these lies out of the public view, at least in this time where misinformation could possibly be deadly.

The freedom of press is extremely important to our democratic society as it allows information to spread quickly and without constraints. Many may argue that limiting this is a direct violation of our rights as a democracy, however, with the extremely contradicting claims in the large news media sources, many Americans are becoming confused with what is true and false surrounding Covid-19. 

Though some may not see this as a serious problem, it is found that areas with higher Fox News viewership had a reduced number of citizens that agreed with the “stay at home” order, and were less likely to comply with public health guidelines by approximately 1.3%. 

These numbers may seem insignificant, but a loss of life is extremely serious no matter how small. If the U.S. government can increase concern and limit deaths by simply hindering the amount of lies present in mainstream news media sources, then the lives saved would outweigh the minor inconvenience of a slightly limited news source.