Framing public epidemic hazards

A recent study published in Mass Comm and Society compared news coverage patterns of three epidemic diseases: mad cow disease, West Nile virus, and avian flu. The findings indicated that although journalists emphasized similar themes in general across these three issues, their narrative considerations changed as the diseases developed into different stages.

Specifically, this study looks into media framing and issue attention cycle of epidemic issues. We have talked about framing a lot. But not much research link framing with issue attention cycle, which, in a simplified way, refers to the ups and downs of media attention.

Although how to operationalize the "attention cycle" has undergone some debates, many researchers measured the concept by story numbers in different periods of time, which this study did. Previous research on this topic often focused on environmental issues (e.g. Downs, 1972) or climate change (McComas & Shanahan, 1999). This study expands the line of research to a different realm.

One thing interesting but not highlighted as the main selling point is that this study actually found different cyclical patterns of epidemic hazards from those of environmental issues. In other words, there was a "maintenance" stage for the latter, but not for the former. (The "maintenance stage" refers to a stage of relatively stable news coverage of an issue.) This indicates that media pays attention to different issues in a very different way.

What should be noted is that the issue of avian flu is in an early stage when media still having high interests. It is therefore not possible to compare media frames of avian flu to those of the other two hazards. Maybe future research can address this gap.

For more studies on issue attention cycle, please see:
1. Attention Cycles and Frames in the Plant Biotechnology Debate: Managing Power and Participation through the Press/Policy Connection, by Nisbet & Huge, 2006

2. Are issue-cycles culturally constructed? A comparison of French and American coverage of global climate change, by Brossard, Shanahan, & McComas, 2004.