Jan Van den Bulck1, Kathleen Custers. 1. Leuven School for Mass Communication Research, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Parkstraat 45, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. jan.vandenbulck@soc.kuleuven.be
Abstract
BACKGROUND: A pandemic outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza is believed to coincide with large-scale panic. Even without an outbreak fear of infection may be widespread. Mass media coverage of the risks of a pandemic may lead to higher levels of fear. METHODS: An ecological study looked at data from 23 member states of the European Union and controlled for population size, level of education, age distribution and income and wealth. RESULTS: When the findings for Cyprus were excluded each additional hour of average TV viewing was associated with a 15.6% increase in the proportion of people worrying about the virus. TV viewing explained 52% of the variance. CONCLUSION: Fear of a pandemic precedes any real pandemic and may have to be dealt with separately. Exposure to television is highly associated with worrying about the virus. This relationship merits further study.
BACKGROUND: A pandemic outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza is believed to coincide with large-scale panic. Even without an outbreak fear of infection may be widespread. Mass media coverage of the risks of a pandemic may lead to higher levels of fear. METHODS: An ecological study looked at data from 23 member states of the European Union and controlled for population size, level of education, age distribution and income and wealth. RESULTS: When the findings for Cyprus were excluded each additional hour of average TV viewing was associated with a 15.6% increase in the proportion of people worrying about the virus. TV viewing explained 52% of the variance. CONCLUSION: Fear of a pandemic precedes any real pandemic and may have to be dealt with separately. Exposure to television is highly associated with worrying about the virus. This relationship merits further study.
Authors: Antoine Nougairède; Jean-Christophe Lagier; Laetitia Ninove; Catherine Sartor; Sékéné Badiaga; Elizabeth Botelho; Philippe Brouqui; Christine Zandotti; Xavier De Lamballerie; Bernard La Scola; Michel Drancourt; Ernest A Gould; Rémi N Charrel; Didier Raoult Journal: PLoS One Date: 2010-06-25 Impact factor: 3.240
Authors: Zhao Ni; Eli R Lebowitz; Zhijie Zou; Honghong Wang; Huaping Liu; Roman Shrestha; Qing Zhang; Jianwei Hu; Shuying Yang; Lei Xu; Jianjun Wu; Frederick L Altice Journal: Res Sq Date: 2020-09-09