Media, ultras and networks: how the hysteria has spread over the global ‘great blackout’

The European dimension of the Austrian alarm makes the “great blackout & rdquor; quickly jump to the media of European countries like Spain. Can it happen here? They wonder. Few analyze the question in depth, providing data on the capacity of the Spanish energy system to “guarantee supply & rdquor ;. Meanwhile, many others make lists with survival kits in case of a national emergency or give advice to prepare for a tremendous scenario: a cold snap without gas or electricity.

Despite the problems with Algeria, which will supply Spain through ships, not through the oil pipeline that crosses Moroccan territory (with whom it is in dispute), both the Government and experts in the sector dismiss the alarm “with total resounding & rdquor; and they highlight the robustness of Spanish energy. “If the fear is of a prolonged blackout that could leave our country without supplies for long enough to make daily life uncomfortable, they should not have it, this is not going to happen here & rdquor; Red Eléctrica de España, Beatriz Corredor.

Regardless of its improbability, the message of a “great blackout & rdquor; has already penetrated. Large supermarkets and neighborhood hardware stores in large cities of the country detect how the demand for kitchens and gas stoves, flashlights and the like, products that televisions, radios and newspapers had added in their ‘survival kits’. Interest in that topic too skyrockets in internet searches. The reaction surprises in Austria. “The announcement of the blackout has unleashed the panic abroad (& mldr;) In Spain people have begun to prepare for an emergency, although it is considered extremely unlikely & rdquor ;, explains the newspaper ‘Heute’.

This hysteria cannot be understood without the amplifying role of the media. “When you receive a bombardment of news in a few hours of the same subject is when fear blooms & rdquor ;, explains Carles Pont Sorribes, professor of journalism at the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). This doctor in social communication points out that oversize of the media is due to “the competition to be the first & rdquor ;, a business of immediacy” that hurts the contrasting information & rdquor; and that leads to “bad ethical practices & rdquor; that “undermine the credibility of the journalistic profession & rdquor ;.