Media & Barack Obama’s Public Health Message

President Barack Obama’s 100 days in office were marked by diverse reactions in the media. A Sri Lankan journalist, Nalaka Gunawardene was impressed by Obama’s unusual step of using a prime-time televised news conference to deliver a public health message regarding swine flu on April 29, 2009.

He quoted “President of the New Media World” Obama: “Wash your hands when you shake hands, cover your mouth when you cough. It sounds trivial, but it makes a huge difference. If you are sick, stay home. If your child is sick, take them out of school. If you are feeling certain flu symptoms, don’t get on an airplane.”

Gunawardene added: “That’s the basic preventive message that needs amplification and repetition all over the world. While medical doctors and researchers spearhead the public health response, we need the mass media and all communications professionals to support the public awareness response.

“Flu shots and hospitals alone cannot win this battle. For the first time in history, we have the means of rapid access to most of humanity. What we now need is clarity of message, credible messengers and sustained delivery.

“I see this as an interesting – even if very risky – social experiment on the preventive powers of our 24/7 media and information devices. More than four billion mobile phones are in use, most of them in the developing world.

“Over one billion people connect to the web. We also have hundreds of radio and TV channels saturating the airwaves. Can these media peddle the right kind of awareness and inspire preventive action faster than the flu virus propagates itself?

“This is the classic race between education and catastrophe that H G Wells wrote about many decades ago! More here…