And today we’re featuring some of their very best finds to bring a smile to your face. Both in the tabloids and in the more serious (digital) papers. A social media project that unites nearly 100k followers, the account features some of the funniest, most bizarre, and downright ludicrous news stories and headlines found in the British press. Messaging that doesn't meet those standards is already having the opposite effect.Now that’s where the ‘Mental UK Headlines’ Twitter page comes in. If the government and responsible media are serious about helping people make good choices about such important things as vaccinations, they need to be fact-based and careful about the information they put out. But by presenting some isolated numbers without important context - such as details about the vast increase in effective outpatient care and the development of innovative pharmaceuticals which prevent hospitalizations in the first place - reports like this added to the public's anxiety quite unnecessarily. The truth, of course, is that with advancements in technology and emergency measures to expand capacity, our health system was far better equipped in early 2020 than it was in 1980 - which isn't to say it was as well prepared as it should have been. from 6 per 1,000 people in 1980 to 2.8 per 1,000 people today - to suggest that our healthcare system was perhaps even less ready for a pandemic now than it was 40 years ago. Media outlets cited statistics about the historical decline in hospital beds in the U.S. As I noted early on in the pandemic, facts without adequate contexts can easily morph into mistruths and improper conclusions. Lastly, we should never provide information without adequate context. When trusted sources do not provide reliable information, critical public trust is eroded and lines of communication are severed. Speculative or inconsistent information, which is abundantly available online, even from trusted sources, is inherently unreliable. Journalists and public health messengers must also be assiduous in making sure that their headlines and reporting are strictly fact-based. In the face of ambiguous situations, we should resist the temptation to craft a negative spin that will drive attention or support a certain agenda. In situations like these, cool rationality and optimism are needed more than ever. A better, more restrained headline about the South Africa variant read as follows: 'South Africa detects new coronavirus variant, still studying its mutations.'Ī healthy dose of restraint should also prevent writers from stoking fear and distrust in the absence of facts. Being honest and neutral about unknowns is the most helpful way for journalists and public health messengers to keep people informed and to preserve their own credibility. This undercuts the value of facts when they do arrive. As alluded to above, when facts are scarce, we shouldn't fill in the gaps with sensationalism. If government and the media want to earn and keep the ability to influence others - an ability which local leaders have wielded to great effect during this mass vaccination campaign - their headline messaging must be above reproach.īut what could journalists and public health messengers be doing differently?įirst, everyone could benefit from a healthy dose of self-restraint. As I noted just over a month ago, personal credibility is the driving force behind influence. It's vital that government and the media don't sacrifice their credibility in this way.

The latter South Africa headline might stoke hopelessness and blame. For some, the myocarditis headline could just be one more piece of evidence showing how scary and deadly Covid-19 is, and perhaps another reason for major public health restrictions. What's the result of this? Headlines like these can feed the sensationalists among us on all sides of every issue.

What we lack in facts, we make up for in sensationalism. Coverage of this variant, unfortunately, has heavily focused on its mutations and less on what concrete conclusions we have about its transmissibility, lethality or propensity to evade vaccines. As time goes by, we're bound to see 'highly mutated' versions of the coronavirus. Consider too a pair of recent headlines about the latest variant detected in South Africa: 'With Delta raging, a highly mutated Covid variant emerges in South Africa,' and 'Pandemic Risks Worsening on Africa Variants, Scientists Say.' We knew long before this pandemic began that viruses mutate into variants.

Funny news headlines