Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Our Issue Or Their Issue? Media Coverage And Framing Of The Zika Virus Epidemic, Thomas Jamieson, Juve J. Cortés Rivera

Public Administration Faculty Publications

How does news media respond to health emergencies abroad? From 2015 to 2018, Zika virus disease spread rapidly throughout Latin America before arriving in the continental US. Despite risks to adults and newborns, it is unclear how media coverage responded and framed the risk for its audience. In this article, we argue that while frequency of coverage was responsive to infections, its content failed to promote proactive health behavior. To assess these claims, we analyze each article (442) dealing with Zika virus published between 2015-2018 by the New York Times. We find that the amount of coverage reflected infections but …