When Information from Public Health Officials is Untrustworthy: The Use of Online News, Interpersonal Networks, and Social Media during the MERS Outbreak in South Korea

ABSTRACT Public health officials (PHOs) are responsible for providing trustworthy information during a public health crisis; however, there is little research on how the public behaves when their expectations for such information are violated. Drawing on media dependency theory and source credibility research as our primary theoretical framework, we tested how credibility of information from PHOs is associated with people’s reliance on a particular communication channel in the context of the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in South Korea. Using nationally representative data (N = 1036) collected during the MERS outbreak, we found that less credible information from PHOs led to more frequent use of online news, interpersonal networks, and social media for acquiring MERS-related information. However, credibility of information from PHOs was not associated with the use of television news or print newspapers. The theoretical and practical implications of our results on communication channels usage are discussed.

[1]  Joseph N. Cappella,et al.  Do People Watch what they Do Not Trust? , 2003, Commun. Res..

[2]  Peter M. Sandman,et al.  Bird flu: communicating the risk , 2005 .

[3]  Paul Slovic,et al.  Public Perception of Risk , 1997 .

[4]  Michael Stefanone,et al.  Exploring Online News Credibility: The Relative Influence of Traditional and Technological Factors , 2012, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[5]  David Tewksbury.  The Seeds of Audience Fragmentation: Specialization in the Use of Online News Sites , 2005 .

[6]  H. Kelley,et al.  Communication and Persuasion: Psychological Studies of Opinion Change , 1982 .

[7]  Barbara J Reynolds,et al.  Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication as an Integrative Model , 2005, Journal of health communication.

[8]  Thomas J. Johnson,et al.  Cruising is Believing?: Comparing Internet and Traditional Sources on Media Credibility Measures , 1998 .

[9]  Shari R. Veil,et al.  A Work-in-Process Literature Review: Incorporating Social Media in Risk and Crisis Communication , 2011 .

[10]  Brian G. Southwell,et al.  Zika Virus–Related News Coverage and Online Behavior, United States, Guatemala, and Brazil , 2016, Emerging infectious diseases.

[11]  J. Brownstein,et al.  Social and news media enable estimation of epidemiological patterns early in the 2010 Haitian cholera outbreak. , 2012, The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene.

[12]  Pamela J. Shoemaker,et al.  Individual and Routine Forces in Gatekeeping , 2001 .

[13]  M. Defleur,et al.  A Dependency Model of Mass-Media Effects , 1976 .

[14]  Tao Sun,et al.  Media dependencies in a changing media environment: the case of the 2003 SARS epidemic in China , 2007, New Media Soc..

[15]  Miriam J. Metzger,et al.  Credibility for the 21st Century: Integrating Perspectives on Source, Message, and Media Credibility in the Contemporary Media Environment , 2003 .

[16]  Keeho Park,et al.  Effects of Health Literacy and Social Capital on Health Information Behavior , 2015, Journal of health communication.

[17]  An Nguyen,et al.  Harnessing the potential of online news: Suggestions from a study on the relationship between online news advantages and its post-adoption consequences , 2010 .

[18]  Neil Thurman,et al.  Forums for citizen journalists? Adoption of user generated content initiatives by online news media , 2008, New Media Soc..

[19]  Elizabeth Johnson Avery,et al.  Contextual and Audience Moderators of Channel Selection and Message Reception of Public Health Information in Routine and Crisis Situations , 2010 .

[20]  Tiaji Salaam-Blyther.  Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV): World Health Organization Responses , 2015 .

[21]  Dewi Murniati,et al.  Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) , 2017, Saudi Medical Journal.

[22]  J. Richardus,et al.  Title Perceived Threat , Risk Perception , and Efficacy Beliefs Related to SARS and Other ( Emerging ) Infectious Diseases : Results of an International Survey , 2009 .

[23]  Louis Leung,et al.  Lifestyles, reliance on traditional news media and online news adoption , 2005, New Media Soc..

[24]  Vincent T. Covello,et al.  Effective Media Communication During Public Health Emergencies: A WHO Handbook , 2007 .

[25]  J. Powell,et al.  Empirical studies assessing the quality of health information for consumers on the world wide web: a systematic review. , 2002, JAMA.

[26]  Elia Gabarron,et al.  Ebola, Twitter, and misinformation: a dangerous combination? , 2014, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[27]  Pamela J. Shoemaker,et al.  Hardwired for News: Using Biological and Cultural Evolution to Explain the Surveillance Function , 1996 .

[28]  Barbara Reynolds,et al.  Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication , 2005 .

[29]  G. Eysenbach,et al.  Pandemics in the Age of Twitter: Content Analysis of Tweets during the 2009 H1N1 Outbreak , 2010, PloS one.

[30]  Mark Deuze,et al.  The Web and its Journalisms: Considering the Consequences of Different Types of Newsmedia Online , 2003, New Media Soc..

[31]  S. Cotten,et al.  Characteristics of online and offline health information seekers and factors that discriminate between them. , 2004, Social science & medicine.

[32]  Paul Slovic,et al.  Fearing or fearsome Ebola communication? Keeping the public in the dark about possible post-21-day symptoms and infectiousness could backfire , 2015 .

[33]  S. Ball-Rokeach,et al.  From Pervasive Ambiguity to a Definition of the Situation , 1973 .

[34]  Mohan J. Dutta,et al.  The Relationship Between Health Information Seeking and Community Participation: The Roles of Health Information Orientation and Efficacy , 2008, Health communication.

[35]  Patric R. Spence,et al.  Crisis Communication, Race, and Natural Disasters , 2007 .

[36]  Detlof von Winterfeldt,et al.  Communicating Scientific Information About Health and Environmental Risks: Problems and Opportunities from a Social and Behavioral Perspective , 1987 .

[37]  S. Ball-Rokeach.  THE ORIGINS OF INDIVIDUAL MEDIA-SYSTEM DEPENDENCY , 1985 .

[38]  Vincent T. Covello,et al.  Effective risk communication : the role and responsibility of government and nongovernment organizations , 1989 .

[39]  V. Covello,et al.  Principles and Guidelines for Improving Risk Communication , 1989 .

[40]  Patric R. Spence,et al.  Media Use and Information Needs of the Disabled During a Natural Disaster , 2007, Journal of health care for the poor and underserved.