Covid-19 : Turning a young woman’s death into a media storm
When Chloe Middleton died, the Guardian described her as “the UK’s youngest coronavirus victim”. Well, not quite, because the the paper added: “her family believe.” The paper today says the young woman’s death “has not been recorded in the official toll because of confusion about how she died, the Guardian can reveal.” Last week, Chloe Middleton suffered a heart attack. Soon after her arrival at Sough’s Wexham Park hospital she was pronounced dead. Having been told Miss Middleton had a cough, a coroner suggested her death was related to coronavirus Covid-19. But the hospital says that is wrong. She had not rested positive for the virus.
An NHS source is quoted. “They [her family] have been given the information officially from the coroner that this is [a] Covid death. And that’s their understanding of it.”
Reporting was dire. The BBC was quick off the mark. A young woman, a private individual who died far too young, became evidence of something to worry all younger people. The BBC notes in its story: “There have been concerns that younger people were ignoring warnings over its spread, believing the contagion was only a danger to the elderly.” They’re worried. So facts matter. The Times added:
Her shattered parents made a note about their loss on Facebook. Media read it and reported it. This was in The Times:
The death of Chloe Middleton, a healthy 21-year-old, prompted her mother to warn that the illness was not something that young people could shrug off.
Diane Middleton wrote on Facebook: “To all the people out there that think it’s just a virus, please think again. [I am] speaking from a personal experience — this so-called virus has taken the life of my daughter.”
Miss Middleton is thought to have died on March 19 and is the youngest victim of the virus in Britain to be named.
The family had heard the mis-diagnosis from the coroner and understandably took it as true. They wanted to prevent more deaths and suffering. The media didn’t bother to check. Chloe’s Middleton’s mother wrote on Facebook:
“To all the people out there that think it’s just a virus, please think again. [I am] speaking from a personal experience — this so-called virus has taken the life of my daughter.”
No fact checking. And once one big news organ says it’s a fact, the others pile in:
Often, we do not know we are ill until we get pain, trauma and the resultant diagnosis. For media to react with such haste and disregard for facts is lamentable. That they did so in the tragic story of a young woman and a devastated family reeling from her loss is hideous.
People are dying from coronavirus but facts do not tell us how many die because of the virus or with the virus. Circumspection is required if the media is worth a damn.
Posted: 27th, March 2020 | In: News Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
