[Reporter’s View] Fake news deadlier than novel virus

“Don’t talk to anyone!

 

Don’t touch anything!” These were the catchphrases printed on marketing poster of a movie Contagion, released in September 2011.

 

Starring beloved Hollywood stars like Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Winslet, the movie focused on an unknown infectious disease creating a global crisis.

 

A woman, who came back from a business trip to Hong Kong, abruptly experiences seizure and dies.

 

Soon after, people who had been in contact with the woman show similar symptoms and die, unfolding dramatic conflicts and chaos.

 

Presumable by the poster’s catchphrase, the infectious disease portrayed in the movie spreads through people by touch.

 

People get infected by handing a credit card back and forth, holding a bus handle, and taking away an empty plate from a restaurant table.

 

In the film, all researchers of World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S.

 

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) come together to identify the pathogen.

 

The feature film ends with somewhat cliché ending with intelligent scientists on a mission track down the patient zero and research antiviral agent that successfully develops into a vaccine.

 

Nevertheless, the movie has been a hot issue again within social media channels due to the recent outbreak of COVID-19.

 

The plot of the movie resembles a number of actual happenings during the COVID-19 outbreak.

 

The investigated disease source found from animals like bat or pig, people losing mind from the news of severe symptoms reported all over the globe, and of course, the government taking an extreme action to shut down a whole city to stop the fast-spreading disease—the movie almost spoiled the recent outbreak.

 

Despite unknown infectious disease itself, what drives people into extreme fear is fake information and conspiracy.

 

The film realistically illustrates people surrounded by apprehension and insecurity as a freelance journalist publishes blog postings of untested folk remedy and claims of conspiracy among the public agencies.

 

Maybe, the makers of the film wanted to tell the audience the lost trust and relationship between people could endanger the people more than the disease.

 

The nine-year-old movie is getting highlighted again as the portrayed scenes overlap with the actual events taking place in Korea at the moment.

 

Seemingly easing out at first, COVID-19 outbreak has been spreading rapidly since the 31st confirmed case.

 

Centering Daegu and surrounding North Gyeongbuk Province, the number of confirmed cases has soared exponentially.

 

Now the region is filled with fear and desolation.

 

Discriminating terms like ‘Daegu Corona’ or ‘Wuhan of Korea’ are gushing out every day and fake news on confirmed patient’s travel route is spreading through Youtube, KakaoTalk, and online communities in a speed of light.

 

Apparently, there has been a reported case of phishing regarding a confirmed patient.

 

And the public outraged over an attention-seeking Youtuber that screamed “I’m from Wuhan.

 

Get away from me” on a subway, who pretended to be an infected patient.

 

The highly advanced information technology and dependency on social media seem to have worsened the spread of fake news than five years ago with MERS.

 

WHO has recently warned, “Infodemic has reached a severe level,” and started seeking for countermeasure with global IT giants like Facebook, Google and Amazon.

 

‘Infodemic,’ or short for ‘information pandemic,’ means a chaos caused by inaccurate information and harmful rumor spreading swiftly through mass media and the Internet.

 

Korean government also has declared, an individual disseminating inaccurate information would be charged with strict sanctions.

 

Rumors are more contagious than the novel coronavirus.

 

Sending out fake information without a hint of guilt could paralyze an entire local business, cause delay in disinfection process or even forever scar an innocent individual.

 

To step away from such infodemic, everyone in the community should help out.

 

Amid chaos, people need to close their ears on fake news and know better to block off inaccurate information spreading.

 

Of course, the news media should also remind themselves that their mission is to deliver accurate information, and not focusing on shocking breaking news.