Disease and the Media: How the media shapes people’s perceptions and reactions to disease from the 19th-21st century
Disease creates a universal human experience and has affected society since the beginning of time. Over time, societies have reacted differently to the spread of disease. One factor that plays a large role in people’s perception and reactions to disease is the media. This is especially true when it comes to media that surrounds topics of risk and contagion levels. The media’s portrayal of the severity of disease has as large an influence on how people respond to them. Media coverage helps determine people’s level of fear and increases targeting of marginalized groups, as seen in the Cholera, 1918 flu, HIV/Aids, and Covid-19 epidemics.
The media’s primary job has always been to inform the public; however, the media can not capture an audience if the message they are conveying is not engaging. This being said, media relating to disease often involves a fear factor in order to engage the readers. For instance, during the Cholera epidemic, as soon as news of the disease reached the wealthy citizens of New York they began to flee in panic. Capturing the fear of the people “The New York Evening Post reported, ‘The roads, in all directions, were lined with well-filled stagecoaches, livery coaches, private vehicles and equestrians, all panic-struck, fleeing the city, as we may suppose the inhabitants of Pompeii fled when the red lava showered down upon their houses’” (Wilford 1). The New York Evening Post likening the spread of Cholera to the volcanic eruption in Pompeii displays the enhancing of fears for their readers. Similar media can be found regarding the 1918 Flu epidemic. For instance, in The “Forgotten” 1918 Influenza Epidemic and Press Portrayal of Public Anxiety Hume explains that “magazines such as The Survey, Literary Digest, and The Independent had begun framing the epidemic in much more anxious terms, calling it ‘appalling,’ ‘an enemy’… and ‘taking a ghastly toll from the whole population.’”(903). Using these words and phrases to describe the flu alteres the public’s perception of the disease, enhancing its severity. Hume goes on to explain that during the flu epidemic, “the press provides the prime opportunity for anxieties to be amplified and legitimized for a mass audience” (900). Many people already felt apprehension towards the spreading of the illness and with the media’s enhancement of already forming fears, most of society’s reactions involved caution and fear. Moreover, the media played a very influential role in the people’s perception of the HIV/Aids epidemic. There were many posters and other types of media distributed during this epidemic that used fear mongering rather than actually informing the public about how to stay safe. Geiling explains that “a lack of information was typical of fear-mongering posters, which relied on catchy, scary headlines rather than information about safe sex, clean needles or the disease itself”. For example a poster was released by the Pharmacy Planning Services in 1986 that read “AIDS. Get the facts. People are dying to know” and featured pictures of gravestones. Posters like this did not improve people’s knowledge about the disease and instead only increased peoples already growing misconceptions and fears. It is clear the majority of media surrounding the Cholera, Flu, and HIV/Aids epidemics was very influential in increasing people’s levels of fear through word choice and graphics in newspapers, magazines and posters. During these three epidemics the media provides a fairly consistent portrayal of the disease, encouraging people to stay away from its danger. Quite the opposite, the Covid-19 epidemic had a wide variety of media perceptions. Some would encourage people to fear the disease and take precautions while others insisted it was only as dangerous as the common cold. For instance, President Trump frequently posted on his twitter page encouraging Americans to “not be afraid of Covid” along with many people in his administration and media outlets that supported him providing very similar messages. On the contrary many news outlets, such as the New York Times, had headlines like, “A Bright-Red Map and a Dire Warning as the Coronavirus Task Force Meets at the White House”. The public was receiving messages all the way from “dire warnings” to simply business as usual. This stark contrast in the media’s display of fear left many Americnas unsure of what information to trust and how to react to the disease. Media’s strong influence left the United States divided on the severity of the disease and what precaution to take.
Aside from fear, the media also tends to increase the targeting of marginalized groups when covering epidemics. All four of the epidemics covered in this paper involved the targeting of marginalized groups. During the Cholera Epidemic, “media warned that alcohol, living in dirty surroundings, and acting immorally were dangerous predisposing actions” (Gonzalez 7). The members of the lower class were heavily targeted by the media as the ones responsible for catching and spreading the disease. As the wealthy fled the city, the poor were the only people forced to stay, living in unhealthy conditions. Furthermore, “By blaming stigmatized groups for the introduction and spread of cholera, members of more privileged groups were able to reassure themselves that they were in no danger as long as they complied with moral codes” (Gonzalez 2). The members of the upper class consumed significantly more media than that of the lower class and gained a false sense of security believing that they were better, not just more fortunate, than the lower class. Similarly, the Flu epidemic was given a racial based name, “the spanish flu” even though the illness did not originate in Spain. The flu epidemic began during World War one when most countries were not reporting on it. Spain, however, remained neutral during the war and was able to report about the virus. Since the news originated in Spain most others assumed the illness originated there as well, hence the name “the Spanish Flu” (Andrews). It is likely that the flu originated in the United States but it was associated and stigmatized around Spain and people of Spanish descent. Moreover, media during the HIV/Aids epidemic unfairly targeted the LGBTQ community, specifically gay men. For example, AIDS Represented Within the Media explains that, “The news mainly indicated that those who were gay, intravenous drug-users, or haemophiliacs were the key demographic to contract HIV/AIDS. Many began to feel invincible to HIV/AIDS because the media was highlighting specific demographics of people” (MacIsaac 1). HIV is not a disese that only effects gay people and drug users but this often how the media painted it. This caused the emmence of stigma surrounding the gay community, especially from religious groups, blaming them for the epidemic. This placing of blame also made others believe that they could not become infected, leading them to not take proper precautions. Continuing, the Covid-19 epidemic’s origins in China lead to discrinmation of Asian-Americans. Vladrich explains that, “In the United States, the Trump administration took the lead in coining and publicly utilizing expressions that negatively labeled the Chinese and Asian diaspora”. The Trump administration, along with media from his supporters, frequently referred to the coronavirus as the “China virus”. Behavior like this has led to Asian-American hate crimes more than doubling in the United States, and increasing 150% in New York and LA (Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, at California State University, San Bernardino). It is clear in the case of Cholera, Flu, HIV/Aids, and Covid-19, the media has singled out certain marginalized groups and either helped to create or increase the stigma surrounding them. With such a wide audience the media can swiftly and easily alter or validate people’s perceptions of certain groups, especially when that group is attached to something with immense negative connotations like disease.
It is evident the media has changed greatly over the last two centuries and these changes have significantly affected how people respond to disease, especially the fear surrounding it. As mentioned in the first paragraph, the media coverage of Covid-19 was all over the map with regards to its level of danger; whereas coverage of the other three epidemics was mostly consistent. In The Covid-19 Social Media Infordemic, it is explained that “The case of the Covid-19 epidemic shows the critical impact of this new information environment. The information spreading can strongly influence people’s behavior and alter the effectiveness of the countermeasures deployed by governments” (Cinelli, Quattrociocchi, Galeazzi). Information varies so widely in the 21st century because of the introduction of social media and the ability for the selective consumption of information. During the Cholera, Flu, and HIV/Aids epidemics, the only media available was through printed materials, and although there are always some outliers, the same pieces of media were available for the majority of the country. This consistency in the media gave people all similar perceptions and reactions to disease. With the introduction of social and online media it is now extremely easy to consume an enormous amount of information with varying viewpoints, as well as, the ability to only view the media you want to hear or already believe. The media surrounding the Covid-19 epidemic has created an environment unlike anything people have seen before. Never before has the President of the United States released a statement about disease while, simultaneously, a trusted news source released one that is exactly the opposite. The wide variety of response to the Covid-19 epidemic versus the other three illnesses shows what great influence the changing media has and will continue to have as it grows.
It is unmistakable that the media is frequently the driving force behind people’s reactions surrounding any topic of importance. People naturally seek both the opinions and facts from others in order to validate their own beliefs and ideas. This is certainly true regarding the media’s coverage of disease. During the Cholera, 1918 Flu, HIV/Aids, and Covid-19 epidemics, the media played an influential role in determining people’s level of fear and increasing targeting of marginalized groups. As the media continues to change, so do society’s perceptions. In the end, one similarity that will never go away is the media’s desire to capture an adudicnes. As long as this remains, people will continue to be influenced by the media they choose to consume, whether for better or for worse.
Works Cited (MLA format) :
Wilford, John Noble. “How Epidemics Helped Shape the Modern Metropolis.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Apr. 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/science/15chol.html.
Hume, Janice. “The ‘Forgotten’ 1918 Influenza Epidemic and Press Portrayal of Public Anxiety.” Journalism & mass communication quarterly 77.4 (2000): 898–915. Web.
Geiling, Natasha. “The Confusing and at-Times Counterproductive 1980s Response to the AIDS Epidemic.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 4 Dec. 2013, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-confusing-and-at-times-counterproductive-1980s-response-to-the-aids-epidemic-180948611/.
Stolberg, Sheryl Gay. “A Bright-Red Map and a Dire Warning as the Coronavirus Task Force Meets at the White House .” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Dec. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/19/world/covid-19-coronavirus.
Gonzalez, Marina. “The Just Wrath of Heaven”: Perceptions of Cholera in Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia.” American University , American University , 2012.
Andrews, Evan. “Why Was It Called the ‘Spanish Flu?’.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 12 Jan. 2016, https://www.history.com/news/why-was-it-called-the-spanish-flu.
MacIsaac, Emily. “AIDS Represented Within the Media.” Dalhousie journal of interdisciplinary management 13.1 (2017): n. pag. Web.
Viladrich, Anahí. “Sinophobic Stigma Going Viral: Addressing the Social Impact of COVID-19 in a Globalized World.” American journal of public health (1971) 111.5 (2021): 876–880. Web.
Cinelli, Quattrociocchi, W., Galeazzi, A., Valensise, C. M., Brugnoli, E., Schmidt, A. L., Zola, P., Zollo, F., & Scala, A. (2020). “The COVID-19 social media infodemic”. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 16598–16598. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73510-5
“Influenza Will Spread West Is Belief .” El Paso Herald, 27 Sept. 1918.
“Uncle Sam’s Advice on the Flu.” Nassau County Leader, 18 Oct. 1918.
“A Warning to Landlords,” Harper’s Weekly, March 24, 1866.” Courtesy of House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College.
Christiansen, Jen. “Visualizing Cholera in the Mid-1800’s.” Scientific American , Scientific American, 24 Mar. 2016, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/sa-visual/visualizing-cholera-in-the-mid-1800-s/.
Pharmacy Planning Services . “AIDS. Get the Facts. People Are Dying to Know.” 1986.
Dallas County Health Department. “A Bad Reputation Isn’t All You Can’t Get From Sleeping Round.” 1986.
Trump, Donald [@realDonaldTrump] “The Times is a disgrace to journalism” Twitter 16 March 2020
Trump, Donald [@realDonaldTrump] “I will be leaving Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30p.m. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump administration, some really great drugs and knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!” Twitter 5 October 2020
