Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1216530
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 MARCH 2020 OPINION common flu – you may actually have a higher chance of being killed by an escaped tiger from the Montekristo Animal Park in Hal Farrug, than by COV- ID-19. After all, there have been at least three reported 'big-cat attacks' in Malta over the past 10 years… two at Montekristo: where, on separate occasions, a tiger and a lioness attacked and injured two small children; and another case involving a wom- an mauled by a lion through the bars of its cage, at a private zoo in Dingli. Meanwhile, there has not been a single reported case of COVID-19 in Malta so far. Yet what are we all panicking about? Lions and tigers? Heck no! We're panicking about a mild, influenza-type virus that hasn't even got here yet… and which is, in reality, no scarier than the one we're all already used to anyway. But back to the media, and its (truly execrable) coverage of this latest health scare. There is another thing that has been bothering me over the past week or so. All those sensa- tional, misleading headlines I mentioned earlier? They have mostly been the product of the international – as opposed to local – press. By way of contrast, the local coverage I have seen so far has been prudent and cautious, almost to a fault. Mainstream newspapers such as this one, The Times, The Malta Inde- pendent, Illum – as well as the politically-owned or affiliated press – have by and large lim- ited their stories only to offi- cial pronouncements from the local health authorities: which in turn have echoed global medical opinion that the coro- navirus is, in reality, nothing to remotely panic about. But this didn't exactly stop people from panicking, did it? On the contrary, the sober approach taken by the main- stream press may even have contributed to some of the mass hysteria we have seen in recent days and weeks. Many of the comments I've seen on social media networks seem to suggest an inherent distrust… not just of the media in general (which, I am sorry to have to admit, is very often jus- tified), but also of the medical expert opinion reflected in this particular coverage. To put it bluntly: people out there are simply not buying the official view that COVID-19 is nowhere as dangerous as it has been made out. It as though, given a choice between accept- ed scientific research, and wild- ly inaccurate reportage that somehow reflects their own in- ner fears or suspicions… many people will automatically gravi- tate towards the latter. And unlike any previous time in human history: all those people now have access to in- ternational media platforms of their own. A Facebook page, a Twitter account, an Instagram profile… that's all it takes to originate and/or disseminate 'information' of one's choice: instantly reaching a potential target audience of (in theory, at least) hundreds of millions of people around the world. As a result, misinformation about COVID-19 spreads much faster than COVID-19 it- self… which almost makes you wonder whether 'social media' – and not any 'novel corona- virus' – is the truly dangerous, devastating global disease that we should all really be shitting ourselves about… The sober approach taken by the mainstream press may even have contributed to some of the mass hysteria we have seen in recent days and weeks. Many of the comments I've seen on social media networks seem to suggest an inherent distrust