Communication Messaging During the Zika Outbreak in the Canadian Media

Abstract

An increase of both old and new infectious disease outbreaks highlights a need for better understanding of risk information. The purpose of our research is to study the communication of risk information in the Canadian media surrounding the Zika outbreak that disproportionately affected Brazil. This was accomplished with the help of a discourse analysis, which entailed extracting information from statements using the research paradigm and social context. Canadian news articles (n=1422) about Zika published between May 2015 and December 2019 made up our corpus. The media is the most influential way that risk information is disseminated during emerging public health events. Our research will help fill the gap between infectious disease outbreaks and how health risks are communicated in the media. With the new understanding we have of media communication through this research we can make better informed risk communication decisions.