Representations of SARS in the British newspapers

Abstract

In the Spring of 2003, there was a huge interest in the global news media following the emergence of a new infectious disease: severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). This study examines how this novel disease threat was depicted in the UK newspapers, using social representations theory and in particular existing work on social representations of HIV/AIDS and Ebola to analyse the meanings of the epidemic. It investigates the way that SARS was presented as a dangerous threat to the UK public, whilst almost immediately the threat was said to be 'contained' using the mechanism of 'othering': SARS was said to be unlikely to personally affect the UK reader because the Chinese were so different to 'us'; so 'other'. In this sense, the SARS scare, despite the remarkable speed with which it was played out in the modern global news media, resonates with the meanings attributed to other epidemics of infectious diseases throughout history. Yet this study also highlights a number of differences in the social representations of SARS compared with earlier epidemics. In particular, this study examines the phenomena of 'emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases' over the past 30 or so years and suggests that these have impacted on the faith once widely held that Western biomedicine could 'conquer' infectious disease. r

Representations of mad cow disease

“…Articles were downloaded as full text from the Internet news service Lexis-Nexis and analysed using Atlas/ti 4 qualitative research software. The text was read carefully and quotations were assigned to codes, with the initial coding frame based on earlier similar studies on Ebola (Joffe and Haarhoff (2002) and Ungar (1998)) and SARS (Washer 2004). As the coding proceeded, the codes were modified to fit the data (So for example the code difficult to catch which had been a recurring theme in the Ebola and SARS coverage was modified to reassurance / little or no threat to human health which better reflected the BSE news coverage.)…”

“…There is a large body of literature on how different groups are blamed for so-called 'emerging infectious diseases'. See for example Watney (1987), Sabatier (1988), Joffe & Haarhoff (2002), Ungar (1998) and Washer (2004). In this sense this risk / blame model connects with reactions to plagues stretching back through history.…”

“…For example, in the SARS epidemic of 2003, the (alarmist) anchor frequently used was the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 40 million people. (Washer 2004) Representations of Mad Cow Disease.…”

Approaching doomsday: how SARS was presented in the Norwegian media

“…Washer compared the media's interest in SARS with the mass media's reports of AIDS and Ebola in previous years and concluded that, as in those cases, the media tended to 'other' SARS from the British public (Washer 2004). If the studies of Muzzatti and Washer represent a correct appreciation and analysis of the messages the media transferred about SARS to their public in Canada and England, Norway, as we will see, was a different case.…”

Risk Society and Representations of Risks: Earthquakes and Beyond

“…In contemporary society, risks are generally 'perceived' not via direct sensory information, but via media reports heralding news of an imminent danger. Such reports often relay scientifically-generated information in a more populist form, for example, sensationalised media coverage of emerging infectious diseases (Joffe & Haarhoff, 2002;Washer, 2004;Washer & Joffe, 2006;Washer, Joffe & Solberg, 2008). The formation of 'risk perception' does not involve independent observation of stable external objects, but rather handling an intricate mix of visual and textual information that is communicated by a host of other social agents and institutions.…”