Many people are unfamiliar with public health and have decided that this is an area of information they can understand and make life-or-death choices about.
For reporters it is a familiar “politics over science” dilemma.
So here are some good resources from the last pandemics:
** AMA — Do journalists need a central information site in order to maintain their credibility? https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/what-should-health-science-journalists-do-epidemic-responses/2020-01.
** Couple of Nieman sites, slightly dated but very good at describing what has gone wrong in the past and how panic can spread https://nieman.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/pod-assets/microsites/NiemanGuideToCoveringPandemicFlu.aspx.html
* Good short takes at Journalists resource https://journalistsresource.org/tip-sheets/covering-epidemics-pandemics-infectious-disease/
* World federation of science journalists, ebola http://wfsj.org/ebola/intro/
* 2009 Sci Dev Net https://www.scidev.net/global/disease/practical-guide/how-to-report-a-disease-outbreak-or-pandemic-1.html
*2018 study on how the media flubs coverage https://theconversation.com/how-the-media-falls-short-in-reporting-epidemics-101216