For their study, Media Coverage of the 2003 Toronto SARS Outbreak, Professors Daniel Drache and Seth Feldman looked at 2600 newspaper stories written in the spring of 2003 and found the virus received saturation coverage at key moments throughout the 91-day period. While predominantly fair, say Drache and Feldman, the coverage helped send a message to the world that SARS was out of control in Toronto.

The findings are based on a detailed analysis of 1,600 Canadian and American newspaper articles from the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, the National Post, USA Today and the New York Times running from March 16 to June 15, 2003.

Prof. Feldman, Director of York University’s Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies and Prof. Drache, Associate Director, received support in the creation of the study from the Canadian Media Research Consortium and Cormex Research.

Feldman says that the severity of the SARS crisis was largely defined by the quantity of the news coverage. "This study demonstrates the need to strike a balance between the medical realities of an epidemic and the media’s use of saturation coverage," he says.

The report also makes a number of key observations regarding comparisons of Canadian and U.S. stories, and health versus political realities, with implications for crisis management and information flows in the new global context. Among these:

• U.S. media didn’t differentiate Toronto from other SARS-affected areas such as China

• This ‘lumping in’ created the impression risks were higher here than they actually were

• American coverage mirrored Canadian press giving prominence to health story over economic/political stories.

• Although economic coverage gained substantial ground following the WHO travel advisory, the health story was diminished but remained the "big story".

• Differences existed in the focus of criticism for the SARS crisis between the major dailies studied. The National Post tended to be most critical of the Federal Liberals, the Toronto Star of the Provincial Conservatives, while the Globe and Mail apportioned the blame equally between provincial and federal governments.

• The provincial government in Ontario was criticized more than any other level of government.

• U.S. media reported nearly twice as often as Canadian media on research on the disease (27%) than Canadian sources (14%) and failed to consider the impact of the disease on the health system in Canada.

For more information, including a copy of the report or to arrange interviews, contact:

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