"When Kelly McBride read Elizabeth Bruenig's essay in the Atlantic about a child's death from measles complications, she was moved and quickly shared the story on her Facebook account. She hadn't realized that Bruenig's family had been ravaged by the virus and the well-known journalist had lost a child. McBride, a media ethicist and senior vice president at the Poynter Institute, also didn't realize the story was a hypothetical scenario."
"Bruenig's stirring account of a mother's experience learning her child will die of the long-term effects of measles has remained one of the Atlantic's most read stories since it was published Thursday, receiving more than 700 comments. Written in the second person, some readers have called the essay a visceral and gut-wrenching exposéof the human impacts of the measles epidemic."
"It has also generated controversy. Readers and media experts have condemned the story as breaching journalistic ethics by informing the reader that the story is fictionalized through a short editor's note at the end of the 3,000-word essay. Some public health experts argued the story was a dangerous writing exercise that could evoke backlash and confusion as vaccine skepticism hits an all-time high across the country."
Kelly McBride shared a vivid account of a child's death from measles on Facebook after reading it, later discovering the narrative depicted a hypothetical, composite character and not a firsthand family tragedy. McBride said she felt deceived after finding a late editor's note. The account, written in second person, drew more than 700 comments and was called visceral by some readers. Critics and media ethicists condemned delayed disclosure as a breach of journalistic ethics. Public health experts warned that fictionalizing such events without clear upfront disclosure risks public confusion and potential backlash amid rising vaccine skepticism.
Read at The Washington Post
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