[ad_1]
The loss of local news sources and public health reporters hampers disease detection and response to epidemics.
EDuring the holiday season, tens of thousands of people come to the Disneyland Resort in Southern California to watch the party lights and pretty costumed characters. Just days before Christmas 2014, an uninvited visitor swept the park: measles. In one month, more than 50 cases were spread throughout the country. As public health experts sought to trace the epidemic, they turned to local news coverage to understand how it was spreading.
"Local news agencies are often aware, before a state department of public health knows an epidemic in their neighborhood," said Maimuna Majumder, researcher at the policy research lab. Harvard University Health Policy, which used local media reports to model the impact of vaccination rates on its spread. As local newsrooms shrink and close, researchers find it harder to track epidemics and communicate public health warnings.
The Salt Lake Tribune included a caricature of Pat Bagley as part of his coverage of the measles outbreak at Disneyland.
Pat Bagley / The Salt Lake Tribune via caglecartoons.com
Majumder's work is part of a 12-year-old Health Map program that allows the Internet to provide up-to-date information on disease outbreaks. According to Majumder, during the 2014 measles outbreak, local media more often relied on disease cases than public health agencies and gave researchers an important context on communities where the epidemic was occurring. . And after the Zika outbreak in 2016, researchers at Stony Brook University compared the the New York Times and Tampa Bay Times covered the disease in spread. They concluded that the local newspaper was more than twice as likely to provide readers with information on how to protect themselves from the disease.
In rural areas already struggling with a shortage of doctors, the loss of rural news also reduces readers' knowledge of important health issues. "When you talk about epidemics, it's critical that local journalists communicate the information," said Amesh Adalja, an academic at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security.
Without a local newspaper, more and more people are using social media. "There is no news void in today's media world because it is full of social media," said Yotam Ophir, a health communications researcher at the University's Annenberg Public Policy Center. of Pennsylvania. But this can be one of the biggest problems during an epidemic, because "social media during epidemics are full of misinformation and rumors". He said: "A responsible journalist who has dedicated her life to medical journalism can eliminate misinformation. "
Carl Segerstrom is a contributing editor to News from the country high. Follow @carlschirps
[ad_2]
Source link
