I've lost count of the weeks that I've been monitoring Ebola coverage, but it has definitely been long enough to say I can notice trends and see similar frames emerging. This week, I read articles about the next Ebola hotspots, the immune response Ebola triggers, the lawsuit Nina Pham brought against Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, how the U.S. could have better handled the Ebola panic, Liberia releasing its last Ebola patient on March 5, and how Thomas Duncan's nephew perceived the media coverage about his uncle.
In the Vox article, Josephus Weeks recounted his family's experience with the coverage of his uncle's illness. I love this article because it uses an inner-sanctum source. Weeks says he and his family members hated seeing Duncan's photo everywhere. "I wanted to say, 'Please stop showing his picture,'" Weeks says. That green shirt. I applaud Vox for seeking out Duncan's family for this interview. As a reader, I now understand the anguish I could only assumed they went through. It's also mind-blowing to me that Duncan still hasn't been buried. Where is his body? I'd love to see some coverage about this.
The other inner-sanctum sourced article I really loved this week was about Nina Pham's lawsuit against Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. Pham says she was charged with caring for Duncan and the extent of her training was reading a few printouts about Ebola. That's insane. I was shocked to read how ill-prepared that hospital was and how inappropriately it responded. This lawsuit is going to teach staff the hard way about the importance of ramping up training and infrastructure. It was a good story, but I think that follow-ups are needed. What is the hospital doing now to train staff to manage Ebola or other outbreaks. This issue is not confined to this one hospital; it was just the one hospital that had to manage it without much warning. I'd like to see some national reporting on protocols, training and drills. Are hospitals working toward a better model of care or if someone else shows up with Ebola in Virginia, for example, will we have the same outcome.
The framing of stories continues to be monitoring-based. When someone from the West is tested for Ebola, it's typically reported. When someone from the West tests positive, it's also tracked. The coverage on Africa continues to look at progress. Liberia's borders are open and the country's last case in several weeks was discharged from the hospital. Overall, I think the coverage is pretty good. I have a sense of the situation in West Africa and how health care volunteers are affected. I do think the coverage of volunteers is slightly overplayed, but I'm sure it's helpful for people considering going to see that the risks are real. Again, more inner-sanctum stories with interviews from people who have been directly involved will be great. I look forward to more rebuilding stories. I think the media definitely needs to produce more of those.
In the Vox article, Josephus Weeks recounted his family's experience with the coverage of his uncle's illness. I love this article because it uses an inner-sanctum source. Weeks says he and his family members hated seeing Duncan's photo everywhere. "I wanted to say, 'Please stop showing his picture,'" Weeks says. That green shirt. I applaud Vox for seeking out Duncan's family for this interview. As a reader, I now understand the anguish I could only assumed they went through. It's also mind-blowing to me that Duncan still hasn't been buried. Where is his body? I'd love to see some coverage about this.
The other inner-sanctum sourced article I really loved this week was about Nina Pham's lawsuit against Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. Pham says she was charged with caring for Duncan and the extent of her training was reading a few printouts about Ebola. That's insane. I was shocked to read how ill-prepared that hospital was and how inappropriately it responded. This lawsuit is going to teach staff the hard way about the importance of ramping up training and infrastructure. It was a good story, but I think that follow-ups are needed. What is the hospital doing now to train staff to manage Ebola or other outbreaks. This issue is not confined to this one hospital; it was just the one hospital that had to manage it without much warning. I'd like to see some national reporting on protocols, training and drills. Are hospitals working toward a better model of care or if someone else shows up with Ebola in Virginia, for example, will we have the same outcome.
The framing of stories continues to be monitoring-based. When someone from the West is tested for Ebola, it's typically reported. When someone from the West tests positive, it's also tracked. The coverage on Africa continues to look at progress. Liberia's borders are open and the country's last case in several weeks was discharged from the hospital. Overall, I think the coverage is pretty good. I have a sense of the situation in West Africa and how health care volunteers are affected. I do think the coverage of volunteers is slightly overplayed, but I'm sure it's helpful for people considering going to see that the risks are real. Again, more inner-sanctum stories with interviews from people who have been directly involved will be great. I look forward to more rebuilding stories. I think the media definitely needs to produce more of those.
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