Postgraduate Thesis: Lessons learned through the analysis of public responses towards the release of governmental information during the SARS epidemic in HongKong

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TitleLessons learned through the analysis of public responses towards the release of governmental information during the SARS epidemic in HongKong
AuthorsLo, Brian L.
盧偉明
Issue Date2012
PublisherThe University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong)
AbstractThe risk perception as presented by the media is important because it is usually through the media that the general population first receives information about an important event or crisis. The unique position of the media comes with a responsibility to provide a ‘communication bridge’ between the government and the general population. However the editorial choices determining the appropriateness of source, amount, and type of information conveyed to the public during a crisis is influenced by the contextual environment. The issue attention framework proposed by Downs was used to explore the possible links between the trajectory of a crisis and the media response may shed some light on the populations perception of risk during a crisis (the Hong Kong SARS epidemic in 2003) in which WiseNews was used to search the grey literature. The articles identified were classified into 4 categories: incidence, public health information, economy, and sensationalism by date of publication. These categories were then plotted on the Hong Kong hospital admissions and deaths epidemic curves. The study explored the potential link between key events during the Hong Kong SARS epidemic and the specific content of the medial publications.
DegreeMaster of Public Health
SubjectHealth risk communication - China - Hong Kong.
SARS (Disease) - China - Hong Kong.
Dept/ProgramCommunity Medicine
DC Field
Value
dc.contributor.authorLo, Brian L.
dc.contributor.author盧偉明
dc.date.hkucongregation2012
dc.date.issued2012
dc.description.abstractThe risk perception as presented by the media is important because it is usually through the media that the general population first receives information about an important event or crisis. The unique position of the media comes with a responsibility to provide a ‘communication bridge’ between the government and the general population. However the editorial choices determining the appropriateness of source, amount, and type of information conveyed to the public during a crisis is influenced by the contextual environment. The issue attention framework proposed by Downs was used to explore the possible links between the trajectory of a crisis and the media response may shed some light on the populations perception of risk during a crisis (the Hong Kong SARS epidemic in 2003) in which WiseNews was used to search the grey literature. The articles identified were classified into 4 categories: incidence, public health information, economy, and sensationalism by date of publication. These categories were then plotted on the Hong Kong hospital admissions and deaths epidemic curves. The study explored the potential link between key events during the Hong Kong SARS epidemic and the specific content of the medial publications.
dc.description.naturepublished_or_final_version
dc.description.thesisdisciplineCommunity Medicine
dc.description.thesislevelmaster's
dc.description.thesisnameMaster of Public Health
dc.identifier.hkulb4765753
dc.languageeng
dc.publisherThe University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong)
dc.relation.ispartofHKU Theses Online (HKUTO)
dc.rightsThe author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works.
dc.rightsCreative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License
dc.source.urihttp://hub.hku.hk/bib/B47657534
dc.subject.lcshHealth risk communication - China - Hong Kong.
dc.subject.lcshSARS (Disease) - China - Hong Kong.
dc.titleLessons learned through the analysis of public responses towards the release of governmental information during the SARS epidemic in HongKong
dc.typePG_Thesis