So how’s the media doing in it’s coverage of the “pandemic that will kill millions” aka Avian Flu?

Sadly, the reporting of the spread of the H5N1 virus continues to be inaccurate, parochial, and anthropocentric - and remarkably contrasting.

The UK press used to have some sort of reputation for accuracy and common-sense reporting, but cultural differences aside, compare below the way that South Korea confirmed its first cases of actual human infection (in the English-language Chosun Ilbo on April 24th) with the hysterical three-quarter page headlines that the Evening Standard (the ES, London’s “only evening” newspaper with a daily readership of around 1 million) used to report plans to protect Londoners from a possible future outbreak the same day.

Chosun Ilbo:

• Four Human Bird Flu Infections Confirmed.

  Korea on Friday confirmed four infections with the deadly human strain of bird flu in the country.

  The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention said the four tested positive for antibodies of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza but showed no symptoms of the disease, meaning their immune systems overcame the infection.

Evening Standard:

• London On Alert for Bird Flu Pandemic.

  Plans are being drawn up…to deal with a flu pandemic in London.

  Sue Atkinson, the director of public health for the capital, warns today that threat must be taken seriously.

  Amid fears that bird flu could mutate into a form that spread from human to human, she reveals that…a “prompt document” has been circulated to local authorities in London asking them to plan for the shutdown of public transport, the breakdown of food and water supplies and the closure of financial markets…

Chosun Ilbo:

• The KCDC said it sent blood samples of 11 Koreans who took part in the cull of chickens and ducks during the bird flu outbreak between December 2003 and March 2004 to the U.S…which found that four of them - a soldier and three workers — produced antibodies. The 11 had tested positive when the KCDC conducted its own tests last year of blood samples of 318 owners and workers at 19 poultry farms countrywide…A KCDC official said the four took the antiviral drug Tamiflu at the time, did not show symptoms for 10 days and remain in good health…

Evening Standard:

• [Sue Atkinson is quoted as saying] We believe two million people could contract it…Our worst case scenario also shows that 50,000 extra deaths could occur because people would have no immunity to the virus…

Chosun Ilbo:

• Japan also had no confirmed human infections of bird flu at the time of its outbreak, but blood tests later confirmed two infections without symptoms. There were five confirmed cases in Kyoto in December 2004 and 77 cases in places including Ibaraki prefecture in January 2006… “The number of confirmed bird flu infections may rise since we are currently testing blood samples taken from 1,600 people at the time”, KCDC director Oh Dae-gyu said. “But we have had no avian flu patients yet, and the country will maintain its status as a bird flu-free nation.”

Evening Standard:

• Over the course of a pandemic, which could last several months, Department of Health figures predict that 25% of staff will be sick…”I think the pandemic will affect every aspect of business,” said Professor Hugh Pennington of the University of Aberdeen. “It could cause mayhem, and there is a big bottleneck in creating vaccines.”

Chosun Ilbo:

• Experts urge workers at chicken and duck farms to wear gloves and masks and wash thoroughly to prevent infection.

Evening Standard:

• Researchers [unnamed of course] have ruled out issuing masks to Londoners, as research [uncited of course] has shown they can actually cause infections to spread more quickly…

Etc etc - the ES even provides a handy Q&A for jittery Londoners which includes, “What would the consequences of a mass outbreak be? Once the virus has gained the ability to pass easily between humans, the results could be catastrophic…experts predict anything between two million and 50 million deaths, with 50,000 in London.”

Fortunately for Londoners, though, the ES is happy to confirm that despite the coming annihilation, “Experts say avian flu is not a food-borne virus, so eating chicken is safe”. Phew, that’s okay then…dying in huge numbers is one thing, but if we couldn’t eat chicken too - how would anyone cope??

I don’t normally defend Korean newspapers, but compared with the understated style of the Chosun Ilbo’s journalist the author of the Evening Standard piece has managed to include virtually every inflammatory cliche available. It’s a shoddy and scare-mongering piece of reporting that helps absolutely no-one: Mark Prigg, the Evening Standard’s “science correspondent” (I assume that means someone on the staff who can spell ’science’ even if they don’t understand it) you should hang your hysterical head in shame…