Editors sound the SARS alarm bells

'Does this virus have the power to conquer the whole world?' was how the Daily Express flagged one of its first articles on the virus(es) responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). 'As if war and terrorism were not enough, a terrified world now has a new threat to contend with — a mystery illness that is spreading around the world from the Orient,' said the Daily Mail. 'The symptoms are horrible, it can kill and there is no cure.' Epidemics and emerging pathogens are invariable enticements for journalists, and the novel form of pneumonia which emerged in the Guangdong province of southern China last November was no exception. As cases later came to light in Hong Kong and further afield, unnecessary hyperbole became the most conspicuous media theme. Even a carefully balanced review in The Times was heralded by 'The genie is out of the bottle', 'KILLER PNEUMONIA' and a whole-page colour photograph of a masked and hooded man. Yet a considered assessment of media coverage over the first weeks, as virologists sought to identify the causative agent(s) of SARS, revealed a less excitable tone overall. Indeed, the Daily Mirror's headline 'DON'T PANIC' contrasted oddly with Science's 'Scientists chase fast-moving and deadly global illness' and The Pharmaceutical Journal's 'SARS — a worldwide threat'. As with the approach taken by The Times, it was often the images and headlines rather than the articles themselves that betokened alarm. One issue of the Daily Mail carried no less than four photographs of nine people wearing facemasks as they arrived at Heathrow airport from Hong Kong. Meanwhile The Times's resident medico Thomas Stuttaford explained that such masks were unlikely to afford any significant protection. And Jeremy Mediawatch: Lethal virus outbreaks may help sell newspapers but Bernard Dixon finds that the early response from journalists to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has been more informed than in many previous scares with diseases resulting from other dangerous viruses. Precautions: While the photographs of mask-clad figures in Hong Kong and other regions of the Far East have been dramatic, reports of the severe acute respiratory syndrome and the hunt for the virus causing it mostly managed to avoid arousing panic amongst their readers, as in this piece in the UK's Observer earlier this month.