Nowadays every democratic society provides a public arena to challenge scientific findings and official measures regarding health and environmental risks posed to the public. The journalistic field that has emerged in exploring such democratic dialogue is called risk communication.

Risk communication needs journalists to observe journalistic standards like those of Tim Russett, the well-known United States political journalist who died two months ago.

Humbly yet critically listening to diverse voices from both authorities and the public concerning the political issues in question, Tim did his best to present unbiased news, articulating public concerns to the authorities in a tough yet decent manner.

Tim once said that as a journalist, he saw himself as accountable to the public; he was always well-prepared to present news concerning political issues that the public needed to be informed about if they were to be independent in making their own decisions on a well-informed basis.

One of the recent journalism topics covered by risk communication is avian influenza, which has had more human victims reported in Indonesia than anywhere else in the world.

Three years ago this month, in July 2005, avian influenza coverage inundated the news since the government confirmed that the H5N1 virus -- the avian influenza virus -- had claimed three consecutive deaths in a single family.

The news terrified the nation because the government and health experts suspected the H5N1 virus had mutated into a human-to-human virus which might soon create the world's next lethal influenza pandemic. Since then most journalists have based their reports on avian influenza by listening to and gathering information from government officials as well as from health and animal experts. Very few, unfortunately, have listened to and reported on the concerns of the public, although basic livelihoods have been seriously affected by the virus.

Creating news stories merely from the points of view of elites, such as political pundits, related authorities and scientific experts is a (traditional) legacy of watchdog journalism. Such journalism was considered the ideal working principle of any accountable news media particularly in the 1950s to the 70s.

However, since the 1980s, as many parts of the world have moved towards embracing democratic principles, of which public concerns and public service are a vital part, the traditional practices of watchdog journalism have no longer been sufficient.

What is increasingly in demand is in-depth journalism that is capable of channeling a variety of opinions, such as those expressed by left, right and non-aligned parties, or by conservative, liberal and independent groups, or authorities, experts and the lay public and so forth.

Such journalism makes a robust endeavor to listen to and then present a complexity of opinions; it strives to create a more genuine democratic dialogue between the public and the elite, who together can exchange views to come up with a more realistic and appropriate decision for dealing with pressing social concerns or issues.

The effort to create a mode of journalism emphasizing the need to listen to all strata of society has grown out of the fact that in the past the messages or measures set/determined by authorities and experts have been at odds with public realities. The public has often been judged or labeled as irrational, ignorant and/or stupid whenever their responses did not comply with official messages or measures.

Official measures and scientific findings advocated by the authorities have been found not to provide the best and most lasting solutions, especially in matters concerning health and environmental risks, e.g. the health and environmental damage caused by long-term use of chemical fertilizer in industrialized agriculture.

Realizing that too much reliance on the political and scientific facts has proven defective, risk communication journalism has incorporated various social science concepts in order to present a more robust perspective on health and environmental risks.

In covering risk issues, such journalism also embraces the psychological notion that it is what people feel that matters, especially in shaping changes to social behavior. Journalists need to be critically aware that their stories not only include the official, the government's and experts' information and measures, but also present public opinions.

Since 2006 the government, with support from national and international agencies and countries, has launched various media campaigns to raise public awareness of the threats from bird flu. Despite serious efforts, the outbreaks of avian influenza and the number of human victims in Indonesia are still the highest in the world.

Many communities, especially outside of Java and Bali remain ignorant, despite the awareness campaigns that have reached them. It has felt as if the avian influenza threat was a distant problem, or specifically a Java problem, which did not affect them.

Risk communication journalists in Indonesia still have lots of homework to do. They need to use as a model Tim Russett's journalism ethics in working on his news pieces. Rather than being satisfied with the various kinds of one-size-fits-all "Beat The Bird Flu" campaigns, journalists need to lend their ears more to the impact that awareness campaigns have or might have exerted on people's daily lives.

Then, they should be accountable to the public for respectfully presenting very critical views to the government regarding the relevance of campaigns and official measures among diverse communities.

The stories of the ways the H5N1-infected communities have dealt with risks in accordance with local conventions might become sources of ideas for other communities to be more pro-active, creative and independent in making their own decisions in facing these risks.

The writer is a lecturer in charge of the Indonesian program at Cornell University. She can be reached at jmpandin@yahoo.com

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