Blowing Smoke About Ebola

     For lack of a better idea or topic, the Ebola "crisis" has swept the Western world. Ever since "Patient Zero" arrived in America, the media and government officials have blown up the news. Every correspondent believes they have the best solution of how to deal with Ebola entering the US. While some believe we should essentially quarantine Western Africa and ban travel from that region to the US, others believe that we should welcome the infected and treat them accordingly, as the United States is more than able to do so.
     Regardless of which option is the right one to pursue, I believe that mainstream media has not handled the reporting of the disease in an appropriate and effective way. They have been overdramatic and have taken advantage of the false hysteria that many Americans were most likely feeling when the stories first began to reveal themselves. After the first American case was confirmed, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) held a press conference assuring citizens that they should not be alarmed, and they should take the proper precautions if they are in the presence of someone who is infected. I believe the media should have spent more time advertising safe practices of personal health and informing the public on what to look for as far as symptoms of Ebola and how it is spread, rather than mindlessly blow up the situation and make unnecessary speculations and hypothetical scenarios.
     This criticism is mostly aimed at the 24 hour news networks who are forced to make stories out of nothing. Rather than blow smoke at 2 or 3 domestic cases of a disease, people should be more concerned about the thousands of cases in Western Africa.

Government Censorship of the Media

     In the United States of America, the 1st Amendment gives every US citizen the freedom of speech, religion, peaceful assembly, protest, and press. Freedom of press means that a person or organization has the right to publish whatever they wish. While this is one of the great perks of being an American, this is not a common courtesy in the rest of the world.
     Currently, Hong Kong is protesting the Chinese government in an effort to establish a democracy in the city. Although Hong Kong gained independence from Britain in 1997, it is still ultimately under the control of the Chinese government. According to BBC, the Chinese government can veto any changes to Hong Kong's structure or political system. Hong Kong has tried to lead a democracy movement, however it has been suppressed by the Chinese government, being a Communist country. A large ally to protests and movements in the last few decades has been social media. This allows the organizers an easy and large platform to advertise their goals. In this effort, however, the Chinese government has gone to great lengths to silence the voices of the demonstrators by censoring television stations, Twitter accounts, and various other news outlets.
     In this case, the media in the Chinese region is a puppet for the government. The US media has had limited coverage and/or information on the movement and the handling of the crowds by the authorities due to the intervention of the Chinese government. This seems to be a common occurrence in Communist and Dictatorial systems of government. The media has no power to act as a watchdog or even to report both sides of a story. They may only report the side of the story that portrays the group in power in a positive light. Here is a quote that the Chinese government may want to ponder over: "We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we are sure, stifling it would still be an evil." - John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859