Variability in Media Content of Public Health Outbreak Coverage: A Crisis Communication Approach

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the stage-specific nature of media coverage of a large-scale dengue outbreak in Bangladesh. We employed the three-stage model of crisis communication and the extended parallel process model as an integrated theoretical framework. A content analysis of two years (2019–2020) of media coverage (N = 615) showed that the number of dengue-related threat messages was significantly higher during the precrisis and crisis response stages than the postcrisis recovery stage. By delivering higher threat messages during the early phase, the media successfully alerted their audience about the forthcoming dengue crisis. During the crisis stage, when people are expected to engage with the crisis responses, efficacy messages are critical, along with threat messages. However, the number of efficacy messages was relatively low across the stages. Coverage of efficacy messages was not significantly different across the crisis stages. The findings also revealed significant relationships with the nature of media coverage and source types and story types. Findings have implications for public health crisis communication and management.

KEYWORDS:

• Crisis stages
• crisis communication
• risk communication
• public health
• dengue outbreak

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Pradeep Sopory, Professor of Communication at Wayne State University, for his feedback in the early version of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Khairul Islam

Khairul Islam is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Communication at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. He studies strategic and crisis communication at the intersection organizational leadership, environmental risk & public health, and the role of media. His research investigates communication processes and message effects. Khairul’s research has appeared in top journals, including The Journal of Business Ethics, Health Communication, The Learning Organization, and The Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research.

Najma Akhther

Najma Akhther, M.A.,M.S.S., is a Ph.D. candidate and graduate research assistant in the Department of Communication at Wayne State University. She is also an assistant professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Jahangirnagar University in Bangladesh and is currently on leave for her doctoral study. Najma conducts research at the intersection of health risk and crisis communication, focusing on mental health promotion and message effects involving social media. Her research has appeared in major journals, including Journalism Practice, Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research, Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science, Journal of Death and Dying, and Qualitative Research in Medicine and Healthcare.

Matthew W. Seeger

Matthew W. Seeger, Ph.D. is a Distinguished University Professor of Communication, Dean Emeritus and Fellow of the International Communication Association. His research concerns crisis and emergency risk communication, crisis recovery, resilience and renewal, agency responses and coordination, the role of media, including new media, failure of complex systems and risk sensing and recognition. He is currently involved in a multi-year, interdisciplinary project focusing on critical infrastructures and the creation of interorganizational resilience. This work involves issues of water contamination and public health. In addition, he is expanding his work on crisis, learning and opportunity through the Theory of Renewal.