“Ebola: A Media Retrospective”
Video essay created of army capstone (JHSPH masters thesis) on the intersectionality of Public Health and Journalism.
[ABSTRACT]
The Ebola crisis serves as a particularly striking example of how an international outbreak suddenly became framed as a public health concern within the United States. This phenomenon can be best understood by examining how different news outlets framed and shifted the narrative of the crisis from one of an actual risk relevant only to healthcare workers in West Africa to a perceived risk that flooded fear into the imaginations of Americans. It was through the latter media framing that ultimately led to the West African Ebola crisis suddenly being perceived as a public health concern within the United States, a narrative phenomenon that exemplifies severe issues in public health communication regarding risk perception, actual risk, and risk management.