ABSTRACT
As people and communities across a warming world become more susceptible to increasingly virulent diseases, it is even more imperative that global media provide consistent and serious coverage of disease outbreaks that does not incite fear and confusion. Media must step up and explain the science behind disease outbreaks, and resist sensationalized reporting. In Pat Fast’s study of the science behind two disease outbreaks titled, Ebola and AIDS: Harnessing Science and Human Nature to Combat Two Modern Plagues, she explains the nature of the diseases, how they are transmitted, what dangers they pose to the public, and the best ways to treat them. When we compare the media coverage of the two illnesses to the science behind them, we find very few details, if any, were accurately reported about the diseases during the height of the outbreaks.
