Elusive Wealth

Certainly the economy remains a major concern in most people’s minds. This could be in either a negative way for the many people who have been affected by job loss, income reduction, or loss of investments. In a more positive view, some people have seen new opportunities and others have begun to save more. The media plays a bigger role in our perception of things than it ever has in the past. Social networking also helps contribute to that perception in both positive and negative ways.

Let’s take a look at the economy as an example. A Pew Research poll (Interest in Swine Flu Remains Strong) shows that 44% of people follow the economy very closely as of early May. This is down significantly from a peak of 70% last September.  Remembering back to that time, the economy was the top story almost daily.  And usually the word crash was thrown in for good measure.

World Crisis

The same Pew Research study shows that while 24% of the people surveyed view the economy as their top interest from the media, only about 12% of the news coverage is now on the ecomony. Most of the coverage, on the other hand, is given to the terror and torture discussions.

Perhaps “swine” flu, or H1N1 provides an even better example. The actual hysteria over H1N1 lasted a few weeks, and of course it was a top story. Since then, we have experienced a flu that, at least in the United States, is less deadly than the seasonal flu. That’s not to say that there is not reason to be concerned with new strains of the flu like H1N1, but is media coverage proportional? Today 21% of people surveyed still look to stories on H1N1 as their top media priority, yet media coverage of H1N1 has been reduced to 2%.

Although this is not necessarily definitive, what this demonstrates to me is the extreme effect that media has on the public mindset. For the vast number of people to still have H1N1 as their top concern shows me that media coverage and hysteria were over the top.

Once the hysteria and fear begin to fade away, it does not necessarily leave the public mindset, even for those less affected by the events, until well after recovery begins. The media on the other hand tends to ignore the signs of recovery, relatively speaking. Sure there is some media coverage on signs of recovery in the economy and the less than anticipated potential impact of H1N1. But the reality is that the coverage is disproportional to the coverage of the negative events.

As time passes it is important that we keep these things into perspective and avoid panic. Panic breeds on itself, and very likely made both the economic and H1N1 situations worse than they could have been.