University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2018 Spreading News: The Coverage Of Epidemics By American Newspapers And Its Effects On Audiences - A Crisis Communication Approach Yotam Ophir University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Ophir, Yotam, "Spreading News: The Coverage Of Epidemics By American Newspapers And Its Effects On Audiences - A Crisis Communication Approach" (2018). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2787. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2787 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2787 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Spreading News: The Coverage Of Epidemics By American Newspapers And Its Effects On Audiences - A Crisis Communication Approach Abstract Launched in 2002 in response to inadequate communications during the anthrax attacks and in preparations to the threats posed by H5N1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) framework provides health professionals with trainings, tools, and resources to help them communicate effectively during emergencies and public health crises. Since that time, the framework has been used by the organization during outbreaks of infectious diseases. A core argument of CERC is that lack of certainty, efficacy, and trust serve as barriers to compliance with and support in CDC during an outbreak. According to CERC, providing the public with information about health and social risks, as well as information about ways individuals and organizations may ameliorate threats, could counter these perceptions, improve communications, and eventually save lives. However, the dissemination of the organization’s crisis messages depends largely on the mass media coverage. Understanding the news media’s agenda, priorities and role during outbreaks is essential for improving the cooperation between CDC and journalists. However, CERC provides little information about the actual behavior of journalists during crises, as reflected in news coverage of past outbreaks. This work aims to fill that gap in our understanding of the outinizationr of news during epidemics and its impact on audiences by systematically analyzing the coverage of epidemics in leading newspapers and using experiments to test its effects. This study analyzed 5,006 articles from leading American newspapers covering three epidemics: H1N1, Ebola, and Zika. Using a mixed method of automated and manual content analysis, it identified three distinct themes used to cover the diseases; pandemic, scientific, and social. Next, manual content analysis was conducted to assess the prevalence of information components theorized by CERC to increase certainty, efficacy and trust- information about medical/health risks, social/economic disruptions, and potential individual and organizational responses to ameliorate risks and reduce harm. Analysis of the themes based on CERC principles demonstrated substantial discrepancies between what CDC aims to communicate during epidemics and what the media actually disseminated to the public. An experiment (n = 321) found that exposure to articles representing the themes affected perceptions of certainty, efficacy, and trust, that in turn were associated with intentions to comply with CDC. The experiment also demonstrated the ability of coverage that follows CERC principles more closely to reduce harmful perceptions that were associated with behavioral intentions in target audiences. Implications for public health organizations and communicators are discussed, including ways to improve cooperation with journalists and the use of alternative direct-channels for filling gaps in news media coverage. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Communication First Advisor Joseph N. Cappella Keywords Crisis, Epidemic, Media, Media effects, Newspaper, Risk Subject Categories Communication This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2787 SPREADING NEWS: THE COVERAGE OF EPIDEMICS BY AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS AND ITS EFFECTS ON AUDIENCES - A CRISIS COMMUNICATION APPROACH Yotam Ophir A DISSERTATION In Communication Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2018 Supervisor of Dissertation _________________________ Joseph N. Cappella Gerald R. Miller Professor of Communication, Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate Group Chairperson _______________________ Joseph Turow, Ph.D. Professor of Communication Dissertation Committee: Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication Robert C. Hornik, Wilbur Schramm Professor of Communication and Health Policy at the Annenberg School for Communication SPREADING NEWS: THE COVERAGE OF EPIDEMICS BY AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS AND ITS EFFECTS ON AUDIENCES - A CRISIS COMMUNICATION APPROACH COPYRIGHT 2018 Yotam Ophir iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the guidance, support, and direction of a number of people. I am especially indebted to Dr. Joseph N. Cappella, my advisor and chairman of my committee. As a teacher, researcher, mentor, and a person, you’ve taught me how to be a better scholar, team member, and thinker, always guiding, enriching, challenging and pushing me to my extreme (and trying to stop me and pull me back when I cross the line between the extreme and insanity). Everywhere I go, I meet generations of advisees who grew and developed under your leadership, and I am proud to join this prestigious club of ‘Cappella alumni’. I also wish to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my marvelous committee members; to Dr. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, whose combination of scientific rigor and practical contribution I find admirable. I hope to learn more from you in the upcoming years about how to break the boundaries of the ivory tower, communicate our findings and ideas to the public, and make a real change in the world; and to Dr. Robert C. Hornik, from whom I’ve learned a lot about the role of communication researchers in the wider realm of public health, about the importance of methodological rigor, and about providing professional, yet kind and thoughtful guidance and advice. Choosing to work under the guidance of the three of you was a great choice that I would make again without hesitation. I also wish to thank the scholars I’ve met in my early years as a student, teacher, and researcher, who shaped my understanding of academia and the discipline of communication studies. To Dr. Jonathan Cohen, who agreed to take me under his wing when I barely knew how to conduct a simple t-test, who taught me countless invaluable lessons, and prepared me to grad school, as if I was his own child. To Dr. Gabriel iv Weimann, who will forever be my academic role model- an engaging teacher and a distinguished researcher, who believed in me and helped me write and publish my first journal paper; I would never forget our work together in teaching and research. I also wish to thank Dr. Yariv Tsfati and Dr. Nehama Lewis-Persky, Annenberg alumni, who supported my choice to pursue my academic training at the University of Pennsylvania, and helped us with priceless tips about the department, but more importantly, about raising a family in Philadelphia. Even years after graduating from the University of Haifa, I still feel that I am a part of your academic family, and for that I am grateful. To my incredibly smart and innovative colleagues at the Annenberg School for Communication- I wish to thank Dror Walter for introducing me to the wonders of computational social science, for reviewing and improving my codes in R, and for spending hours upon hours in endless discussions about anything from communication theories to video games. To Hyun Suk Kim and Sijia Young – thank you for the time spent following my convoluted and way-too-complicated-for-their-own-good models, and for providing insightful suggestions and ideas for coping with the hardest of statistical and methodological challenges. To all my great colleagues and friends who thought, wrote, and talked research (and life) with me in the last five years- Allie Volinsky, Christine Scholz, LeeAnn Sangalang, Elisa Baek, Natalie Herbert, Erin Maloney, Emily Brennan, Laura Gibson, Kirsten Lochbuehler, Minji Kim, Jazmyne Sutton, Stefanie Gratale, Elissa Kranzler, Alisa Padon, Qinghua Young, Poong Oh, Julia Alber, Holli Seitz, Rui Shi, Rosie Bae, Dina Shapiro-Luft, Stella Lee, Jiaying Liu, Elizabeth Beard, Betty Ferrari, Noor Halabi, and Kristin Shumaker. I learned a lot from all of you, and it will be a delight to keep following you in your academic journeys. I v can’t wait to meet you all again in conferences nd other happy occasions. I also thank the dedicated undergraduate research assistants who helped with the coding of articles for my dissertation project; Jose Carreras-Tartak, Nour Elkassabany, and Phoebe Ruggles. I wish you the best of luck in your next steps. Finally, and most importantly, I owe my deepest thanks to my family. In his epic “Grapes of Wrath”, John Steinbeck establishes the theme of survival through group unity. Ma, an avid supporter of sticking