The International Public Health Journal, a peer-reviewed journal aimed at the scientific community interested in public health, has accepted a journal article written by Nan Yu, assistant professor of communication, and graduate students Dennis Frohlich, Jared Fougner and Lezhao Ren.
Their article, “Communicating a health epidemic: A risk assessment of the swine flu coverage in U.S. newspapers,” analyzed the 2009 swine flu coverage by major U.S. newspapers. The study examined the general pattern of swine flu coverage, presentation of risks and explanation of consequences. One of the findings was that the media provided conflicting and uncertain messages about the H1NI vaccination that health professionals highly recommended for at-risk groups.