Inconsistencies in reporting risk information: a pilot analysis of online news coverage of West Nile Virus.
West Nile Virus (WNV) has been reported as one of the worst epidemics in US history. This study sought to understand how WNV news stories were framed and how risk information was portrayed from its 1999 arrival in the US through the year 2012. The authors conducted a quantitative content analysis of online news articles obtained through Google News ( N = 428). The results of this analysis were compared to the CDC's ArboNET surveillance system. The following story frames were identified in this study: action, conflict, consequence, new evidence, reassurance and uncertainty, with the action frame appearing most frequently. Risk was communicated quantitatively without context in the majority of articles, and only in 2006, the year with the third-highest reported deaths, was risk reported with statistical accuracy. The results from the analysis indicated that at-risk communities were potentially under-informed as accurate risks were not communicated. This study offers evidence about how disease outbreaks are covered in relation to actual disease surveillance data.
1 Department of Science/Health Communication, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Kristina
K
Birnbrauer
2 Department of Mass Communications, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Bloomsburg, PA, USA.
Dennis Owen
DO
Frohlich
3 Department of Advertising, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Debbie
D
Treise
D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods*; D020407:Internet; D008402:Mass Media; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011634:Public Health; D014901:West Nile Fever / Q000453:epidemiology*
West Nile Virus; health communication; health risk; mosquitoes; public health; risk communication