Southwell and Hwang: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States; Torres: American Institute of Physics, College Park, Maryland, United States

This letter to the editor describes avian influenza as an issue about which United States (US) lay audiences are hungry for information, signalling a public communication opportunity for scientists. The authors describe dramatic media coverage of avian flu in the US, despite relatively low pandemic risk (particularly at the time and in the country of publication). The authors' queries are: "...what type of coverage should the issue receive according to viewers? Are they interested in the issue, if at all, as a matter of scientific inquiry or simply as a sensational threat to individual survival?"


They report results of a national survey of local television viewers they conducted through the internet and email in May 2006, which suggests that viewers not only think that the potential direct impact of avian influenza on their own lives should be covered by reporters but also have interest in scientific investigation of the disease. Viewers, reporting on a 7-point scale of "not important" to "very important", chose the highest level for the topic of local news addressing the "direct impact" of avian flu on the lives of viewers. Viewers also assigned importance to potential coverage of how avian flu spreads and why scientists are finding it difficult to contain. A slightly smaller majority thought the television news should focus on the connection of avian flu to other issues, such as business and travel. Researchers concluded that "...news audiences would tolerate much more than the soundbites and superficial coverage often offered with regard to infectious disease research."


Additionally, researchers pondered certain demographic influences and returned to the survey results to see if various viewer affiliations were influential. They found that formal employment with a scientific institution had no statistical influence on answers and that level of educational attainment had a negative influence on interest in seeing more scientific information in bird flu reporting. However, past conversation with others about science in recent months served as a positive predictor of the desire for more in-depth reporting. They concluded that there is a prime opportunity to "boost popular awareness of epidemiological and medical inquiry" due to audience desire for more detailed coverage on infectious disease research regarding avian flu.