Public trust in a rapidly unfolding public health crisis
It’s a central question facing news organizations in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic: When the consequences of distrust in science are deadlier than ever, what should journalists do?
How should they cover the evolution of public health advice from no masks to yes masks? How to manage the migration in expert opinion from droplets to aerosol? How to navigate debates over the efficacy of two weeks of quarantine lockdown to the likelihood of a two-year vaccine countdown?
These were some of the questions looming over a Thursday afternoon panel discussion about journalism, the pandemic and public trust at Carleton University’s Journalism in the Time of Crisis conference.
Moderated by Scott Mitchell, a Carleton University instructor and PhD candidate specializing in the public communication of science, the panel included Dr. Vera Etches, the City of Ottawa’s chief medical officer of health; the award-winning journalist Jayme Poisson, host of the daily CBC podcast FRONT BURNER; Carleton professor emeritus Chris Waddell, former director of the university’s School of Journalism and Communication; and York University sociology professor Cary Wu, whose research focuses on political culture, immigration and inequality.
What emerged from the Zoom panel discussion was a consensus that given the fluidity of scientific knowledge in a rapidly unfolding public health crisis, journalists should acknowledge the uncertainty in their storytelling, and focus more on explaining the nuanced details — including shifts in expert advice — in reporting on public health guidelines.
It’s an approach required across all news platforms in order to maintain the public’s trust and engagement in the kind of global crisis management required during COVID-19 pandemic.
The panelists emphasized the importance of communicating scientific and public health information as clearly and transparently as possible — including acknowledging when new information may conflict with what was reported at an earlier time.
Dr. Vera Etches, the head of Ottawa Public Health and the face of the national capital’s fight against COVID-19, said journalists should strive to gain insights from a wide range of medical workers other than government health officials, including epidemiologists and contact tracers, to provide a clearer and more comprehensive overview of the public health emergency confronting the country.
Dr. Etches also pointed out that journalists should contextualize apparent discrepancies that can occur in public health guidelines issued by different governmental bodies. Citing a current example, she said there is a good explanation for why public health directives about Halloween trick-or-treating are more restrictive in Ottawa — one of Ontario’s four COVID-19 hotspots — than they are nationally.
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, recently advised that Canadian children could go trick-or-treating — but did specified that citizens should follow the advice of local authorities.
Waddell noted that journalists’ preoccupation with known facts can conflict with the obligation of scientific experts to incorporate the latest research findings on the nature of the virus, its transmission and health effects — knowledge that is evolving at a very fast place.
“Journalists are interested in facts. What’s right, what’s wrong,” Waddell said. “And scientists won’t say anything definitively, because they are always waiting for whatever the next study might be, and whatever the next results might be coming along.”
Wu highlighted the importance of public trust in news media as people’s behavioural patterns around precautionary measures — including face masks and social distancing rules — gradually diverged according to citizens’ different levels of trust in science, public institutions and the media.
Over the first seven weeks of the pandemic, he noted, a study showed that Americans who trusted Fox News became far less likely to believe that wearing face masks was important in curbing the pandemic than those who trusted CNN.
By contrast, “in Canada, there has been an increase in public trust,” said Wu, adding that trust, as a complex psychological construct, has to be viewed from multiple angles. He also noted that levels of social trust, political trust, social activism and political participation have all increased in this country during the pandemic.
Poisson, a former Toronto Star reporter, said that the pace of COVID-19 updates has been “faster than any other story I’ve ever worked on.”
She said it’s been particularly important in covering stories about the pandemic to time-stamp all episodes and clips.
“We are always trying to remind our listeners this (advice) could change tomorrow — this advice on masks could change tomorrow.”
Another strategy for deepening public trust: When reporting on fresh research findings, never cite new studies without interviewing at least one independent expert to make sure the study has been peer reviewed and reflects a general scientific consensus.
Finding sources who are excellent science communicators — experts who are also able to discuss complex subjects with an understanding how average citizens receive and digest such information — is also an effective way of building public trust.
“You know,” said Poisson, referring to sources who are “fair, down-to-earth, and real.”
Watch the whole panel here.
