Media Framing and the Threat of Global Pandemics: The Ebola Crisis in UK Media and Policy Response

Abstract

Pandemics pose new and difficult challenges. Risks associated with the spread of pandemics generate intense speculation in Western media. Taking the 2014–2015 Ebola outbreak as a case study, the article critically analyses how the risk of contagion in the US, Europe, and the UK has been constructed in UK media and policy discourse. Drawing on the importance of media framing in shaping a given problem definition, causal interpretation and treatment recommendation, the article critically assesses the impacts of the British newspaper framing of Ebola, questioning the rationale of a UK domestic political response based on containment and border screenings. The article also takes a comparative angle, engaging with constructions of previous pandemics. Underscoring the importance of a sociological analysis of these framings, the article critically reflects on the role of media communication in reproducing certain topoi, which reduce the scope for open public debate around best responses to a pandemic emergency.