Our Virtual Classroom: Journalism Ethics During A Global Pandemic.
Voices of University of Arkansas Students Spread Across the Nation
March 31, 2020
Question of the Day: Pick one term to describe the degree to which people in your immediate community are knowledgeable about the coronavirus pandemic: informed, misinformed, or uninformed.
I would also appreciate knowing how that question applies to people in your immediate community. I would also value anything other you would like to share about what are you are noticing now in your community during this time.
I think that media outlets are doing a good job informing the public about the coronavirus. However, with the virus spreading so quickly and new data coming in every hour, I believe it is hard to stay up to date with what is going on …
It is the people’s responsibility to keep up to date and educate themselves by reading/watching the news. Media outlets can only provide the information they cannot force people to absorb and listen to it.
Mollie Yale
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The people I’m surrounded by are informed about the coronavirus pandemic. Almost too informed. I’m currently in CA visiting my boyfriend and have been here for 2 weeks. Part of my family wants me to leave and fly home before I get stuck here, while the other half wants me to stay, and try to stay inside as much as possible. I have family group texts with everyone sending advice, updated news and panics. It’s been overwhelming and it seems like my older family members just watch the news all day, which makes them more scared.
Emily Edwards
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I have had discussions with some of my coworkers and family members about how they think that the media coverage regarding the COVID-19 pandemic is the root of all the panic. I have also seen the result of people not taking the media seriously and the pandemic in general. I work at Lowe’s and the past few weeks have been extremely busy. It seems to me people are disregarding the seriousness of the pandemic. It will be interesting to see what kind of preventative measures will take place in the next few weeks to try and get people to stay home.
Chloe Brammell
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In the recent weeks I have become frustrated with the lack of knowledge in my community regarding the coronavirus pandemic. I have moved home to my small town in Arkansas where most people didn’t achieve higher education. I find that many of them are misinformed and don’t take the time to stay up to date. A close friend of mine recently made a comment about the pandemic which was entirely false. When I called her out on it and suggested a podcast that helps me stay informed she told me that it makes her too sad to listen. I don’t think people realize how important it is to stay informed right now. It upsets me greatly.
Heidi Kirk
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The general public is uninformed regarding COVID-19. I think this because as a Gen Z, being a 21-year-old college senior, people my age don’t seem to care about the virus. They are continuing their social gatherings and drinking habits as usual. Only when it reaches their close circle of friends and family do they begin to change their viewpoints about COVID-19.
Mary Green
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I believe people in my community are misinformed about the coronavirus in general. There is so much ‘news’ and information cluttering the world of social media as well as different news outlets that I don’t believe that your average consumer would have any way of knowing what they can trust, so they trust either what is believable or what is the most extreme scenario.
There are so many details out in the public right now that are just simple made up, assumed, or flat out incorrect, but with so much media floating around people do not know that what they are believing is false. Whether it has to do with the end of the virus situations, martial law, or vaccines, I don’t think the average consumer is taking time to evaluate the source of their news, and therefore have become misinformed.
Olivia Ellis
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I think the people in my community have a general misunderstanding and are misinformed of the coronavirus pandemic. People in my community are watching the news and checking the Arkansas Department of Health website, but they aren’t putting the statistics they see in context. For example, people see that we have around 400 cases in Arkansas, but they don’t look at how many negative tests come back. It’s the same thing with checking the number of deaths but not checking the number of recovered cases. This causes a general misunderstanding that people can’t recover from the coronavirus or that everyone who is tested has the virus. Of course, the coronavirus is very serious, but the people in my community can’t put what they read in context of what is actually happening in our state and other countries.
Victoria Radke
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I think that most people aren’t sure what to think, there is too much being said that it is hard to form an opinion. I think the majority of people understand “flattening the curve”, but when I talked to my friends about it we are unsure of what to do if we think we have it, obviously get tested but they aren’t testing you if you aren’t a priority. So, if you think you have it and can’t be accepted by the hospital, what do you do? At what point then would it be an emergency and life-threatening and worth going to a hospital? It is all just very confusing and unclear. Awareness of the importance of social distancing is important, but there is so much other information that isn’t talked about. Should we be as fearful as we are? We don’t want to cause unnecessary panic, but don’t want to neglect the importance either. How severe is the sickness? Should we actually fear for our lives? Even if it isn’t that severe, we can still social distance for the sake of not letting it spread. I think most people are just hearing about deaths and shutdowns and that is very overwhelming.
Allye Brillante
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People in my immediate community were misinformed about the coronavirus pandemic. For starters, when I talk about my ‘immediate community,’ I’m really only talking about my three roommates since they are the only souls I have been in direct contact with for the past 3-4 weeks and have the pleasure of spending pretty much every second cooped up inside with. I don’t actually think they are as misinformed as the word claims they are, but I don’t consider them all that informed either. My friends and I, as well as any other college student my age, tend to get all of our information from social media or just from what our friends and family say. That allows for a lot of error in the information, since word of mouth isn’t exactly the most reliable source. For example, my friends and I were supposed to travel to my lake house for spring break in Missouri. We wouldn’t have had content with anyone that we weren’t already quarantining with, so we wouldn’t have been violating any social distancing. However, one of my friends said she heard from her other friend who heard from their other friend that President Trump would be putting the country on lockdown in the coming week, which would prevent us from crossing state boarders and returning back to Arkansas from the lake. Definitely not a reliable source, but nonetheless, it spooked everyone and we called the trip off. Now we are here, spring break over, no lockdown, and we could’ve easily gone to the lake to sit inside and do nothing at a different location at least. That is just an example, but I see discrepancies in other areas, like when it comes to symptoms for instance. Every single person I know seems to think of a different list of symptoms for COVID-19.
I think it is interesting to watch all this different information flow around from person to person via social media, whether it be correct or not. But hey, that’s just the world we live in.
Katie Gissy
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I am at home in Dallas right now and most people are generally informed. In my immediate neighborhood, people are going on multiple walks a day and for the most part, being respectful of others’ space and abiding by social distancing. However, in downtown Dallas, several popular trails were so crowded that people were literally walking right beside each other and the city even threatened to shut those trails down because people weren’t abiding by the 6-feet rule.
Nicole Trubisky
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I am quarantining in my hometown, Memphis, Tennessee, and while I marked that the people of this city are informed, I would argue that they are informed but ignorant. When you turn on any news station broadcast or open up their websites, the leading story is the government’s urge for people to stay inside and make only essential trips out of the house. It seems almost as if people in Memphis do not understand the extreme case that this pandemic is and that trips to the grocery store are considered dangerous. It is not unlikely that each time I open my phone to scroll through Facebook, there is a mom posting pictures of her kids hanging out with their friends or “grabbing a quick bite to eat,” only to complain two posts later about the government extending the time period of social distancing. When is she going to realize that she is the problem? Ultimately, while people in Memphis are informed because the government and news outlets have done an amazing job of making sure information is relayed accurately and quickly, many people are ignorant of the process because it is inconvenient to their everyday life, and therefore they are less willing to participate.
Mary Fracchia
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The term I would use is uninformed. While some people are taking the necessary steps to help contain the epidemic, others are pushing their luck and seem unsure of how serious the pandemic should be taken. While many of the businesses near me have closed, places like golf courses near me continue to operate. People seem to be stretching the definition of what an essential business is and that is deeply concerning
Courtney Sakmar
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While the news is swarmed with information and updates about COVID-19, it is hard not to stay informed. Even if you miss the daily press conferences of Trump speaking about the current situation and statistics, you’ll be sure to see it on Twitter or somewhere else.
However, something I’ve also noticed is that there are a lot of misconceptions and rumors that spread quickly about the pandemic. It causes society to be unsure about what is the truth and what is false.
So yes, we may know about how many diagnosed cases and deaths there are in a certain county on any given day, there are still a lot of other rumors that get floated around that could cause trouble. It is important that journalists scout these out so that they can either confirm or deny them for the public.
Tate Nicholson
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I answered “misinformed” because it seems to me that people in Kansas City are operating under very faulty assumptions about the severity of the coronavirus, despite the fact that local papers such as the Star, and national papers such as the Times seemed to do a very good job covering this pandemic from the beginning (the Star has even made coronavirus coverage free without a subscription). The correct information was clearly available, but it seems as though my fellow Kansas Citizens, especially the young people, have been choosing to instead focus on misinformation circulating via social media that better validates their desires to not have to alter their lives very much. Despite the mayor urging citizens to socially distance, young people continued to congregate at bars, clubs, parties and other non-essential outings. I don’t doubt that they knew of the guidance and the reasons for it, given how saturated the media has been with coronavirus coverage. However, it seems that they were encouraged by misinformation spread via social media saying that the virus isn’t really anything to worry about if you’re young. The situation was so severe that the mayor had to issue a stay at home order and order all non-essential businesses to close. Still though, over 200 businesses were cited on Monday for not doing so. I think that people are embracing misinformation on the severity of the crisis because it gives them a reason to do what they want. This information is mostly spread via word-of-mouth and social media, although the president’s daily press briefings where he accuses hospitals of exaggerating their struggles and trying to hoard and sell government-issued PPE that they don’t really need certainly don’t help.
Sarah Komar
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I believe that the people in my life are largely informed about the coronavirus pandemic. I have taken it upon myself after three years in journalism school to inform my parents and immediate family about the importance of getting news from reliable sources, so they are only watching news and reading articles from fact-checked news outlets. I do believe that the sheer density of information out in the world about COVID-19, however, is confusing, especially to people who can easily be swayed by misinformation. I believe that this causes a sense of mass hysteria instead of awareness.
Katie Beth Nichols
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My parents live in Norman, OK, so that is where I have been the past few weeks. I would compare Norman’s knowledge about COVID-19 to that of Fayetteville. They are both college towns, so the cancellation of college classes has greatly affected the community and everyone is on high alert of how this virus will continue to affect Norman. Local businesses have closed and grocery stores sell out quickly. Last week, the community was put under a stay in place order. However, I don’t feel like this has affected too much since community members were already taking social distancing seriously. I am thankful that, even in the midst of unknown and scary times, the community still encourages each other. All over the local parks people have chalked encouraging messages and Bible verses, people have parades from their cars, and everyone is enjoying the outdoors. People are giving other people hope by the tiniest acts of kindness and encouragement and it is really great to see.
Overall I, would say that the Norman community is informed about COVID-19, taking the necessary precautions, and staying up to date on its effect globally, nationally, and in the community.
Molly Johnson
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One term to describe my immediate community is confused. I think social media provides a lot of information to everyone however it can spread misinformation as well. Some people in my community are panicked and stock buying while others are just trying to live as normal as they possibly can considering the circumstances. Community members may not know what to believe whether news on the television or self-proclaimed journalists on social media.
Maritza Cedario
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