Pre-existing condition : taking media coverage into account when preparing for H1N1

Abstract

This paper examines the claim that media exaggerated the threat of H1N1, prompting an immediate demand for limited vaccine. We compare the Australian’s and the Daily Telegraph’s (UK) coverage of H1N1 with the coverage in the Globe and Mail, which is comparatively critical of government performance. The events of October 2009 underscore the difficulty and importance of responding to media coverage of “uncertain risks” (Renn 2008), risks for which there is a lack of scientific basis for decision making and which potentially generate anxious public responses