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Threat, Efficacy, and Uncertainty in the First 5 Months of National Print and Electronic News Coverage of the H1N1 Virus

The authors conducted a content analysis, investigating the first 5 months of national print and electronic news coverage of the H1N1 virus. They collected all stories about H1N1 appearing in 6 national news outlets between April and September 2009. Of these stories meeting the analysis criteria, the authors randomly selected 200 for inclusion. Using models of fear appeal message processing, this study investigated the nature and prevalence of threat and efficacy messages in news coverage of the virus. Such models have traditionally been applied to strategic health message contexts (e.g., campaigns) rather than to health news coverage. Results suggest that most stories made reference to the threat of the H1N1 virus, sometimes overemphasizing and sensationalizing virus-related death. With regard to efficacy, approximately half mentioned actions individuals or organizations/communities could take to protect themselves from the virus, but almost none provided evidence that such methods are effective, and some explicitly questioned their effectiveness. In addition, a number of stories referenced uncertainty about the threat of the virus (38%) and/or solutions to the potential threat (18%). The authors discuss the implications from the perspective of fear appeal message processing models.