NBC Dateline Review

Email sent -keep em coming they do judge future programing on response

Ok --Watched the whole thing and here are my thoughts.

First, I tried to divide my brain into two parts...One half of me tried to watch it as John Q or Jane Q public that know little to nothing about "Bird Flu" and secondly, as a informed professional trying to sort it out.

I think this was responsible, even signifcant journalism.  I think the journalist behind this story got a huge education and now professionally know enough to keep tabs on all of those officials they talked to.  I think they talked to a wide range of individuals and presented a thoughtful piece.  On a personal level, I am sure everyone that had any role in putting this story together is now wide-awake and preparing in a serious way, they are also telling all of their friends and family memebers and that is progress.

As John Q public I think this was a  significant moment --but I don't think it will have reached many people.  It was balanced and reasonable, but did it hold peoples attention?  I don't know.  I will be curious to see any feedback tomorrow.  I think it didn't make you feel like it was close enough, personal enough to override the everyday little crisis and issues in everyones lives.

As a professional, I think they had some of the good experts on the show, I think they did sound research.  I think they may have missed an opportunity to get more out of people.  Maybe if they said you should have 2months of supplies they would have gotten people to lay in 2 days. 

I think they will have to keep pushing the message.  In crisis communication its called "iincreasing the sense of outrage", if people get concerned ie "outraged" about an issue, they get focused and take action. Not to be mistaken with total outrage or the "iI'm really ***sed off"...

Hopefully enough people will pay attention...

Texas --

That was my concern watching it....I don't think it was enough to hold most people's attention for a full hour.  It was accurate and reasonable and intelligent, but American's particularly have very short attention spans.  NBC even limited the commercial breaks during the show to give more coverage time....I think NBC tried to walk the line and obviously think it is pretty scary...but i don't think they were quite "scary" enough in tone. to keep people dialed in.  I hope I am wrong.

   We already have patients in the hall on a regular bad day. A few days ago I saw a patient in hall bed Q [Counting starts at A]. This is only one of three areas that had hall beds. The nurse to patient ratios listed are unrealistic. In a pandemic nurse to patient ratios would be more like 20 or 30 to one or worse. The picture showing beds running down the hall  looked like a shot of my ER on about any day at 3PM.    ER Doc

As I said earlier, I think they could have said more.

Edited by Mountainwinds - April 23 2006 at 9:40pm

I just got finished watching the Dateline Special.  That show definitely got my attention, especially the scene where all of those darn patients were lying on stretchers in tha halls of the hospital. Many times I have to put my patients in the hall now because there is no where else to put them.  I'll be lucky to last two weeks in such a pandemic. I have accepted the fact that I could easily die in a pandemic, especially because of my line of work. Who Knows? I still refuse to worry myself to death about the unknown. I am just going to live everyday like it  is my last!



Edited by Proudest Monkey - April 23 2006 at 10:37pm

Nawty bits, I'm with you. That was the line that made me crazy!! I think that man just does not know what to say anymore. He knows he can't tell the people the truth so maybe he's just a really bad lyer(sp) and so he comes out with these crazy powdered milk and tuna under the bed statements. His children are going to "find themselves in an atmosphere" ????? Where, on Mars?  "where food and water have been sorted and prepared for such an occasion" ????? Who talks like that? Oh, I know, he learned it from the WHO! WHO-ease. How many "occasions" out there like this are there? Is there an astroid headed for earth they forgot to tell us about?? I think he must really be a prepper b/c he is being ambiguos and evasive when confronted with the question "So Mike, how long are you preppin' for?"

He said he's probably taking his kids outta school for a couple of months and the pandemic is going to circle the globe 3 times for a year and a half and the Federal government will not be able to help it's citizens so his reccomendation is that people should have food and water for 2 weeks!!   This will not light a fire under anybody to prep.

i really wanted to watch this special, and looked for it several times yesterday evening via channel-surfing and rechecking local listings.

I agree that he two week thing is completely absurd.  The math doesn't ad up. 

"I hope that my children will find themselves in an atmosphere where they have food and water that has been sorted and prepared for just such an occasion." [I assume "sorted" was supposed to read "stored."]

I think what he's saying, with this strange wording ("an atmosphere" instead of "a home"), is that he and his family will be in a bunker somewhere, with food, water, power, vaccines, supplies, and schooling - and he hopes we will be prepared too!

ATMOSPHERE indeed!!!

We won't be able to view the program for another two weeks.  Our "Cable Provider" (and, Boy, do I use THAT term lightly!) airs Stateside programs with a 14 day time delay.  Part of the price of living in "Paradise".   Your reviews are very intriguing, I can't wait to see the show.  Thanks for all the posts.  If the Dateline piece is as good as it sounds we should see a jump in the membership of this forum.  

Samoa-

 

No satellite TV in paradise?

Evergreen wrote, "I'm on my way out the door to buy another bag of rice." I just got back from the store; I bought a big bag of rice myself; and I just placed another order to Emergency Essentials.

I am like you; I just want the cold hard facts, no time to play games. I think people are just in "denial". Many people can not accept the fact that a pandemic could occur that could kill so many people and cause havoc in our society. Carl Jung once said, "people cannot stand too much reality". Reality can be a painful thing sometimes!



Edited by Proudest Monkey - April 24 2006 at 11:37am

Please, everybody: E-mail to dateline@nbc.com with your comments. Let's encourage them to update, correct their mistakes , congratulate them for a decent first effort.

What we all seem to be saying is unfortunately all too true on all too many fronts.  For those who read "The Hot Zone" you will remember the rather stunning final chapter to the book.  For those who did not, let me take great liberty while I summarize.  The book described a near disaster ebola outbreak on U.S. soil.  Until the end of the book it was a fun bio-hazard Clancy styled novel.  However, in the conclusion the author described ebola as one of countless diseases hiding in damp and dark remote places left in nature.  Such diseases are the like the white blood cells, the immune system, for the large single biologic organism known as earth.  He described man as the disease, and the more we encroach, abuse, take w/out replenishment from within this large organism, the more the earth's immune system will fight back against the disease.  

Now, this is NOT anti-technology rhetoric- far from it.  But we need to wake up.  We, as a human race, are not going to save the planet.  The planet will be here as long after us as it existed before we showed up.  Our fight is to convince the landlord to renew the lease.  We can build a dam- but it will crumble in a 400 mph tidal wave.  We can seed clouds- build monolithic sea walls- that a Katrina will roll over like a toy under a hummer's wheel. 

People are in denial because that is what they see their world leaders doing.  The U.S. mindset tends to deny those things we cannot impact.  If we can't write a check to make it go away- we don't want to face it, face the complexity, face the unknown, face the facts we may have to accept.  For all our remarkable accomplishments- we tend to look at success and failure in narrow and absolute terms.  Sorry for going on so long here- but how we as a society learn from Katrina, Loma Prieta EQ, The Rodney King riots- to become a stronger cohesive society in the face of a pandemic will be the ultimate key to the survival of millions if this bug breaks loose.  Frankly, I don't see anyone, least of all the narrow-minded, pea-brained, egomaniacs in the halls of Washington doing anything about these- most essential- issues of preparedness. 

Think about this quandry- let's assume a vaccine is created, available to anyone and everyone.  Should the pandemic take place, it will go coast to coast in 90 to 120 days.  Who is going to fight the mass hysteria and risk exposure to stand in the lines to get it?  These are the details of reality.  People will be infectious 24 to 48 hours PRIOR to becoming symptomatic.  This is problem requiring a civil cooperative society.  Now I ask- have we even begun to prepare?

Edited by colby - April 24 2006 at 11:57am

RJay, you are so.. right! I forgot he has a first class family ticket to the Federal Ark (loaded with atmosphere!) located somewhere far beneath the earth with probably a 5 yr supply of everything imaginable! I was just so stunned by the 2 week remark. My minimally prepping friends who I talked to afterward found that so confusing in light of what was reported earlier in the show. So if people are left confused, they do not react. They wait for more information and clarification. I really do understand the need for baby steps in informing the oblivious, denial hugging public about the fact that we are about to encounter an end of the world as they know it event. I just hope they have the luxury of time that it may take to get the point accross!! We here all know how long it takes to really prep to a signifigant level and once everyone on earth is doing it, it won't be possible for it to be done. I'm sure this is a factor in the gov plan as well. Maybe it's like 5% catch on at a time each phase they bump up the dose of reality so that everyone isn't at the same stage of preparedness (like not at all) at the same time. I thought that NBC did a good job of giving information although they did make it appear that people would have oodles of time to go to the store and pick up milk, bread and yodels whatever, while the pandemic is meandering across the globe. It was shown in what, weeks? It will be more like hours! That is the fact that keeps me up til all hours of the night!!

Bluesky & Jaxmax ditto to your posts too!!

Although I thought the NBC Dateline special was a noble undertaking, it didn't come as much of a surprise to me that none of my co-workers seemed interested in discussing the show. And frankly, I doubt if hardly anyone I work with even tuned in. I did tape the show to share with anyone who does want to open their eyes to the possibility of what may happen to us in the very near future. But I have hope that the upcoming TV movie will have more of an impact. From the preview commercials, it sounds like it could pack quite a punch. And I think that is just what the general public needs. We need to wake up and smell the coffee (without the sugar). And I've also thought like Elf (sorry but I don't consider you a Psycho) that it will help tremendously when (I won't say if, but when...) respected media including high profile journalists and celebrities-finally get on the bandwagon and lend their voices to encourage people to prep. It's true unfortunately that many will listen more closely to their favorite "star" than to the scientists and government officials.