😣 Has the news been creeping you out too?

Understanding "fear-mongering" for productive news-reading.

As the pandemic rises to its peak again, people are becoming more and more glued to the news. Whether that be on TV, social media, or broadcast messages from colleagues and relatives, one common thread among all the messages is the urgency of the situation, and that we all need to be alert.

In this situation, some news platforms might deviate from the purpose of informing, and turn to fear-mongering to get their message across. As consumers, how should we process these anxiety-inducing news?

How does fear-mongering even work?

By definition, fear-mongering is the process of spreading fear and using it to control and influence others. As fear is a very strong emotion every human inherits, it is often used to mobilize people to act on something, especially in the realms of Politics and Advertising. Scientifically, our brains proxy anything that feels unfamiliar, incoherent, or inaccessible as being unsafe. And so, when our mortality is threatened, we tend to see things as “making sense” even when they might be against our values.

In the case of the recent news of Covid-19, fear-mongering is used in a way to make people alert of the situation, and act on it by obeying to health protocols in place. This is where the System Thinking theory of Psychologist Daniel Kahneman comes in play:

• System 1 Thinking: The intuitive response, the emotional visceral, that sometimes can arise out of fear.

• System 2 Thinking: The deliberate, thoughtful examination of “What is this person on the news saying?” “Is it what I need to do to have a better life quality?”

When scanning the news, pandemic-related or not, it is better to step back from your fear. Not to pretend it doesn’t exist, but to see it as what it is: fear. A data and an emotion. Rather than acting out of fear, get yourself informed first.

Watch the 7-minute video on the science behind fear-mongering in the context of Political Demagogues here.

For more information regarding Covid-19 in Indonesia, visit covid19.go.id.

Fear-mongering vs fact-mongering

The opposite of injecting too much fear into a piece of news article, there is also something called “fact-mongering”, which is underplaying the seriousness of a situation by hiding behind the “facts”. Both are not ideal in terms of spreading information, as fear-mongering can stoke irrational panic, and fact-mongering can cause irrational calm and complacency.

The debate between which one is more appropriate to use is dated back to 1905, when researchers started to incorporate ethics in their work. Scientists liked to stick with the facts, but fact-mongering has a couple of different dimensions. It means assuming that facts must be wholly divorced from fear—and all other emotions, in order to really count as facts. This can be seen as unwise, if not impossible.

If you’re up to learning more about the history of fear-mongering and fact-mongering, read the full article by University of North Texas Professor, Adam Briggle, here.

Immunizing yourself from fear-mongering news

A recent Norwegian study has shown that there is a link between health anxiety and heart disease. Yet it is important to highlight that a link or association is not equal to causation, although we do need to be cautious on what we are feeding both our body and mind to keep them stable.

At the end of the day, as readers and consumers of the news, we can’t avoid it being everywhere. There are still ways we can take to guard ourselves from letting these fear-mongering news weaken our immune system. Before taking a piece of information as “fact” hence inducing even more anxiety, ask yourself:

• Are the risks mentioned in the news presented in relative numbers?  If something has ‘doubled’ or ‘increased by 70%’ then ask, double what? What is the absolute risk that went up due to the thing we are told to fear?

• Is this a real provable effect or an observation? Many fear stories are based on observational data and report associations, not causation.

• What is the ‘prevalence’ of the fear-inducing thing? How likely is it to be widespread and common or rare and isolated?

Read more on health fear-mongering and how we can immunize ourselves from it here.

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Important:

As the Covid-19 pandemic has been affecting many people in real life, it would be wise for us to act on this news by getting vaccinated, keeping health protocols in check, and staying at home as much as possible.

Understanding what “fear-mongering” means does not mean that we need to dismiss every news and information regarding something that we are afraid of. The purpose of knowing why and how fear-mongering happens, is to not get caught up in fear and for us to act accordingly.

Keep yourself updated with the latest official information on Covid-19 by visiting covid19.go.id.

Stay safe, and we’ll see you again next week!