Circulating health rumors in the ‘Arab World’: A 12-month content analysis of news stories and reader commentary about Middle East Respiratory Syndrome from two Middle Eastern news outlets

International Communication Gazette

Volumn 78, Issue 5, 2016, Pages 411-431

  Auter, Philip J ^a   Douai, Aziz ^b   Makady, Heidi ^a   West, Chasah ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA AT LAFAYETTE   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF ONTARIO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY   (Canada)

Author keywords

Al Arabiya; Al Jazeera; Arab News; Framing; Health Communication; MENA; MERS; Rumor: Health Scare

Indexed keywords

EID: 84981731341     PISSN: 17480485     EISSN: 17480493     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1748048516640202     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. G.W.AllportL.Postman (1947) The Psychology of Rumor, Oxford, England: Henry Holt.
2. Y.Al-Saggaf (2006) The online public sphere in the Arab world: The war in Iraq on the Al Arabiya website. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication12(1): 311–334.
3. C.E.Beaudoin (2007) SARS news coverage and its determinants in China and the U.S. International Communication Gazette69: 509–524.
4. L.BomlitzM.Brezis (2008) Misrepresentation of health risks by mass media. Journal of Public Health30: 202–204.
5. Brewer D (2014) The importance of accuracy in journalism. Available at: www.mediahelpingmedia.org/training-resources/editorial-ethics/237-the-importance-of-accuracy-in-journalism (accessed 30 July 2014)
6. H.Buckner (1965) A theory of rumor transmission. Public Opinion Quarterly29: 54–70.
7. Campbell D (2014) Column: Dangers of speed vs. accuracy. USA Today. Available at: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-04-24/journalism-social-media-giffords-paterno-nikki-haley/54513448/1 (accessed 30 July 2014)
8. P.Conrad (1999) Uses of expertise: sources, quotes, and voice in the reporting of genetics in the news. Public Understanding of Science8(4): 285–302.
9. A.DouaiH.K.Nofal (2012) Commenting in the online Arab public sphere: Debating the Swiss minaret ban and the “Ground Zero” mosque online. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication17: 266–282.
10. J.DowneyN.Fenton (2003) New media, counter publicity and the public sphere. New Media & Society5(2): 185–202.
11. Dunn H and Allen C (2005) Rumors, urban legends and internet hoaxes. In: The Annual Meeting of the Association of Collegiate Marketing Educators, Dallas, Texas: The University of Tennessee at Martin, p. 85
12. R.Entman (1993) Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication43(4): 51–58.
13. European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (2013) Rapid Risk Assessment: Severe respiratory disease associated with a novel coronavirus. Avaialble at: http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications/Publications/MERS-CoV-rapid-risk-assessment-August-2015.pdf (accessed 13 October 2014)
14. Farhi P (2013) When news breaks, scanners and social media can create a cloud of errors for news outlets. The Washington Post. Available at: www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/news-outlets-often-stumble-in-quest-for-speed-and-accuracy/2013/09/16/e5444820-1f19-11e3-8459-657e0c72fec8_story.html (accessed 30 July 2014)
15. W.A.GamsonA.Modigliani (1989) Media discourse and public opinion on nuclear power: A constructionist approach. American Journal of Sociology95(1): 1–37.
16. G.G.Hartl (2013) Novel coronavirus: The challenge of communicating about a virus which one knows little about. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal19: 26–30.
17. Hofheinz A (2005) The internet in the Arab world: Playground for political liberalization. Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft/International Politics and Society 3(1): 78–96. Available at: http://www.fes.de/ipg/arc_05_e/arc_03_05_e/ed_03_05e.htm
18. T.Hong (2007) Information control in time of crisis: The framing of SARS in China-based newspapers and internet sources. Cyber Psychology & Behavior10(5): 696–699.
19. Isbell TT (2007) Shiloh and Corinth: Sentinels of Stone. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi. Available at: www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1061 (accessed 10 March 2016)
20. T.JohnsonS.Fahmy (2010) Who is winning the hearts and minds of the Arab Public? An examination of how Arab viewers judge the credibility of Al-Jazeera, Al- Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations. International Communication Research Journal45(1–2): 24–48.
21. R.H.Knapp (1944) A psychology of rumor. Public Opinion Quarterly8: 22–37.
22. P.KrishnatrayR.Gadekar (2013) Construction of death in H1N1 news in The Times of India. Journalism15(6): 731–753.
23. J.D.Lee (2014) An Epidemic of Rumors: How Stories Shape Our Perception of Disease, California: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
24. Lewis J (Ed.) (2006) Shoot First and Ask Questions Later: Media Coverage of the 2003 Iraq War. NY: Peter Lang
25. A.Lewis (2007) The American Culture of War: The History of U.S. Military Force From World War II to Operation Iraqi Freedom, New York: Routledge.
26. Mackay I (2014) Virus taxonomy. Available at: www.uq.edu.au/vdu/VDUMERSCoronavirus.htm (accessed 20 August 2014)
27. P.Manning (2001) News and News Sources: A Critical Introduction, London: SAGE.
28. B.MeyerM.A.MüllerV.M.Corman (2014) Antibodies against MERS coronavirus in dromedaries, United Arab Emirates, 2003 and 2013. Emerging Infectious Diseases20(4): 552–559.
29. C.E.Nielsen (2013) Coproduction or cohabitation: Are anonymous online comments on newspaper websites shaping news content?New Media & Society16(3): 470–487.
30. W.A.PetersonN.P.Gist (1951) Rumor and public opinion. American Journal of Sociology57: 159–167.
31. J.Prasad (1935) The psychology of rumor: A study relating to the great Indian earthquake of 1934. British Journal of Psychology26: 1–15.
32. S.Reese (1997) The news paradigm and the ideology of objectivity. In: (ed.) Social Meanings of News, Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, pp. 420–440.
33. H.Rheingold (2002) Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution, Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books.
34. R.L.RosnowG.A.Fine (1976) Rumor and Gossip: The Social Psychology of Hearsay, Oxford, England: Elsevier.
35. Saudi Ministry of Health, Command and Control Center (2014) Dr. Al-Rabeeah: Situation of Coronavirus Is Reassuring, It Is not Epidemic, Praise be to Allah [Press release]. Available at: www.moh.gov.sa/en/CCC/pressreleases/pages/mediastatemenet-2014-04-09-001.aspx
36. Saudi Press Agency (2014) Crown Prince Chairs Cabinet's Session 2 Riyadh. Available at: http://www.spa.gov.sa/viewstory.php?newsid=1220547
37. M.Schudson (1982) The Power of News, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
38. T.J.ShihR.WijayaD.Brossard (2008) Media coverage of public health epidemics: Linking framing and issue attention cycle toward an integrated theory of print news coverage of epidemics. Mass Communication & Society11(2): 141–160.
39. R.Silverstone (2005) Mediation and communication. In: (eds) Handbook of Sociology, London: SAGE, pp. 188–207.
40. Snyder A (2006) Viewpoint: Al-Arabiya as new favorite satellite TV. Middle East Times, 18 April. Available at: www.mafhoum.com/press9/275C36.htm (accessed 10 March 2016)
41. K.A.Swain (2005) Approaching the quarter-century mark: AIDS coverage and research decline as infection spreads. Critical Studies in Media Communication22(3): 258–262.
42. R.M.TripathyA.BagchiS.Mehta (2013) Towards combating rumors in social networks: Models and metrics. Intelligent Data Analysis17: 149–175.
43. U.S. Center for Disease Control (2014a) Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Available at: www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/ (accessed 10 March 2016)
44. U.S. Center for Disease Control (2014b) Frequently asked questions. Available at: www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/MERS/faq.html (accessed 10 March 2016)
45. Viner K (2013) The rise of the reader: Journalism in the age of the open web. The Guardian. Available at: www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/09/the-rise-of-the-reader-katharine-viner-an-smith-lecture (accessed 30 July 2014)
46. World Health Organization (2012a) Global Alert and Response (GAR) – Novel coronavirus infection. Available at: www.who.int/csr/don/2012_09_25/en/ (accessed 29 July 2014)
47. World Health Organization (2012b) Global Alert and Response (GAR) – Novel coronavirus infection – update. Available at: www.who.int/csr/don/2012_11_23/en/ (accessed 29 July 2014)
48. World Health Organization (2013a) Global Alert and Response (GAR) Novel coronavirus infection – Update. Available at: www.who.int/csr/don/2013_05_15_ncov/en/ (accessed 29 July 2014)
49. World Health Organization (2013b) Global alert and response (GAR) – MERS-CoV summary and literature update–as of 31 May 2013. Available at: www.who.int/csr/disease/coronavirus_infections/update_20130531/en/ (accessed 26 July 2014)
50. World Health Organization (2014a) Global alert and response (GAR) – Frequently asked questions on Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS‐CoV). Available at: www.who.int/csr/disease/coronavirus_infections/faq/en/ (accessed 29 July 2014)
51. World Health Organization (2014b) Global Alert and Response (GAR) – Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Update. Available at: http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_07_02_mers/en/ (accessed 29 July 2014)
52. Zeidler S and Gorman S (2009) Swine flu gets big dose of American media coverage. Reuters UK. Available at: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2009/04/28/idukn28351698 (accessed 30 July 2014)