I have written many times about the destructive impact of what I call “noise” which consists of blaring headlines, the pronouncements of politicians and pundits, social media posts, chatter in social situations, and misinformation spread by intentionally divisive people. All of this promotes a perpetual state of unease if not panic.
Hannah Ritchie, Tuna Acisu, and Edouard Mathieu just published a fascinating paper that adds another dimension to this issue. (Does the news reflect what we die from?) They studied the actual causes of death in the United States during 2023 and compared that data with media coverage of mortality. Specifically, the authors determined the percentage of deaths associated with major causes and compared those percentages to mentions of the causes of deaths in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Fox News. One could quibble with their choice of media outlets, but they are among the largest national news organizations and represent different parts of the political spectrum.
As shown below, the comparison between actual causes of death and media coverage is striking. For example, heart disease and cancer accounted for 56% of all deaths in 2023 but only received about 7% of media coverage. In contrast, homicides accounted for less than 1% of deaths yet received an average of 47% of media coverage. Even more extreme is terrorism which accounted for .001% of deaths yet received an average of 14% of media coverage. In terms of ratios, homicides received 43 time more coverage than their share of deaths and terrorism more than 18,000.
Why do these disparities exist? The authors argue that the media responds to what their readers want, and many want emotion-filled, engaging stories. Additionally, the media is in the business of reporting news, and there is nothing newsworthy about the fact that Americans die of cancer and heart disease most often. Moreover, consistent with the fact that television crime series and disaster movies are very popular, deaths from homicide or terrorism provide a shot of adrenalin rather than a mere statistic.
There is nothing new about all of this so one could reasonably respond so what? My concern is that misinformation will stimulate citizens and their elected representatives to enact policies that attempt to solve a problem that does not really exist while ignoring truly critical issues.
