title: Understanding mass media coverage of disease clusters.
abstract: The responsibility of informing the general public about disease clusters belongs to health investigators. In the majority of instances the investigators must send their messages through the mass media. The authors analyzed nightly network television news coverage of disease clusters during the period 1978-1987, and newspaper coverage of four disease clusters. Formal content analysis of about 600 stories showed that the mass media focuses on human interest, conflicting information, blame, and political symbolism in their coverage of clustered health events. The authors offer suggestions to health practitioners about improving their communications with journalists.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urban Studies and Community Health, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wartenberg
mesh_terms: D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D009524:Newspapers as Topic; D011639:Public Opinion; D011641:Public Relations; D012307:Risk Factors; D013029:Space-Time Clustering; D013690:Television