The reporting of the risks from severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the news media, 2003–2004

This paper analyses coverage of the risks from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in March 2003 to April 2004 in 15 news media from seven countries (Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Spain, the UK and the USA) as part of an analysis of risk management for the European Commission. A total of 1014 relevant news articles were found and coded for their presentational tone or ‘scariness,’ the types of risk (health, financial and political) mentioned, the countries involved, and the documents, people and organizations cited. The main period of the epidemic (as reported internationally) lasted 3 months from the end of March to the end of June 2003, by which time over 770 people had died worldwide. In the early weeks, the tone of the articles was somewhat scary, but by the end of May much had been learned about the disease, its likely death rate and how to contain it, and the articles became less numerous and more moderate in tone. Because of the rapid spread of the disease, there was not time for it to become politicized. Some 62 documents were cited in the news articles, mostly research papers. The people and organizations most cited were the WHO, medical personnel, officials, governments, politicians and scientists; the latter tended to make the news articles less scary. Public reaction to the news, in the form of statistics on air travellers to the Far East and to Toronto, Canada, suggests that the health risks of the latter were seen as much less serious than those of the former.