New Report on Ebola Risk Communication Analyzes Local Media and Rumors

The findings of the study were recently published in a report. Communicating self-efficacy – that is, providing messages that give recipients reason to be confident in their ability to avoid a danger – is a well-documented best practice (Rule #10). Yet the Project found that many of the messages failed to communicate self-efficacy, at least 80 percent of them to be exact. Without a message of self-efficacy, the use of fear, anger or guilt appeals are counterproductive. Similarly, the percent of compassionate and empathetic messages were less than ideal (Rule #2). Another point of concern was that messages were lacking in communicating the willingness to listen to and understand the audience (Rule #4), though radio shows were the best in this regard.

Across all of the communication channels, however, media successfully realized several best practices. Explaining both the inherent uncertainty and ongoing nature of a crisis (Rule #6 and #7) was seen in the majority of newspaper articles and in the chalkboard newspaper respectively. When sources of information were cited in the media, the expertise of the news source was usually mentioned, which demonstrates collaboration with credible sources (Rule #8). The report encourages risk communicators to take it a step further and explicitly cite trustworthy sources to communicate honesty, candor and openness (Rule #5).

Listening to the rumor mill

Information voids often leave room for misinformation. And indeed, rumors presented a significant challenge during the outbreak which was reflected in the data. The project found that rumors were rapidly increasing in 2015, with many of them centered on new Ebola cases and fearful in tone. Other common rumors indicated that people were profiting from the outbreak and that Ebola was created by an outside source.

“Battling rumors allows us to confront negative behaviors in their tracks,” says Dr. Monique Turner, an author of the report. “Often people will engage in harmful (or non-preventative behaviors) because they have been given false information.” During the outbreak, people avoided being detected and did not trust the recommendations given by healthcare service providers.

When the researchers tracked how these rumors entered radio programs and newspaper articles, they found that rumor refutations, where a rumor is stated as “just a rumor,” were also increasing. By the end of 2015, each rumor was refuted in a one-to-one ratio. This finding speaks to the usefulness of a rumor tracker and the capability of local leaders, the ministry of health and international agencies to battle rumors in a concerted effort via radio shows, newspapers and community gatherings.