I am critiquing the an article on the Dallas Morning News about stopping the potential spread of ebola in the united states. My opinion of this article is that they are over reacting, as the media tends to do, about Ebola. But I also think they have kind of an interesting outlook on the problem.
The article seemed like sort of a plea to the people who were potentially exposed to keep themselves in isolation. This article calls them heroes for risking their health to try and save this man, and calls upon one more favor for them. They are in a way offering a reward to them if they comply rather than calling upon the government to force them too. I think this is a good strategy I don't hear about being used very often and I think it could be far more effective because they might feel good that they are doing everyone a noble favor rather than just being forced to do something. This could make it more likely for people to co-operate and for other potentially infected people to identify themselves.
They are overreacting in my opinion though. It seems that at this time the expert opinion is that Ebola is not a great danger and there are even many articles on the Dallas Morning News explaining that. The problem is that nowhere in this article is that explained. Someone could pick up the Dallas Morning News, flip to this article and start reading, and think that Ebola was coming for them and that they should walk around with a face mask. I think they should have included in their closing paragraphs how should affect an ordinary Dallas resident. What precautions should they take? What is the threat level? Should they even worry? According to most experts they shouldn't worry and they should carry on with their lives. This article almost seems like it was written to the people that tried to save Thomas, not the general public. It is interesting to the general public knowing what these people are going through, but I just think they should also include a brief take home message for the general public.
So it was an interesting article and the writers took an interesting approach. But as we all know the media likes to blow things out of proportion for entertainment purposes and they certainly did in this article.
The article seemed like sort of a plea to the people who were potentially exposed to keep themselves in isolation. This article calls them heroes for risking their health to try and save this man, and calls upon one more favor for them. They are in a way offering a reward to them if they comply rather than calling upon the government to force them too. I think this is a good strategy I don't hear about being used very often and I think it could be far more effective because they might feel good that they are doing everyone a noble favor rather than just being forced to do something. This could make it more likely for people to co-operate and for other potentially infected people to identify themselves.
They are overreacting in my opinion though. It seems that at this time the expert opinion is that Ebola is not a great danger and there are even many articles on the Dallas Morning News explaining that. The problem is that nowhere in this article is that explained. Someone could pick up the Dallas Morning News, flip to this article and start reading, and think that Ebola was coming for them and that they should walk around with a face mask. I think they should have included in their closing paragraphs how should affect an ordinary Dallas resident. What precautions should they take? What is the threat level? Should they even worry? According to most experts they shouldn't worry and they should carry on with their lives. This article almost seems like it was written to the people that tried to save Thomas, not the general public. It is interesting to the general public knowing what these people are going through, but I just think they should also include a brief take home message for the general public.
So it was an interesting article and the writers took an interesting approach. But as we all know the media likes to blow things out of proportion for entertainment purposes and they certainly did in this article.
No comments:
Post a Comment