Media Coverage Affects How People Perceive Threat Of Disease

The research, published online in the Public Library of Science: ONE, suggests diseases that show up frequently in the print media –like bird flu –are considered more serious than similar diseases that do not receive the same kind of coverage, such as yellow fever. "The media tend to focus on rare and dramatic events," says Meredith Young, one of the study's lead authors, Neuroscience & Behaviour. "When a certain disease receives repeated coverage in the press, people tend to focus on it and perceive it as a real threat. This raises concerns regarding how people view their own health, how they truly understand disease and how they treat themselves."