If you were a journalist and needed accurate, authoritative information about the flu, where would you go? Two different resources, it turns out, work well for both journalists and ESM/Disaster Science practicioners. Both offer well-researched and well-written overviews of the topic, in a layman-friendly fashion.
CQ Researcher (available to the U of R community through Boatwright Memorial Library), offers a number of reports on topics dealing with the flu, including vaccine safety, emergency medicine, combating infectious diseases and, perhaps most relevant, one entitled, “Avian Flu Threat: Are we prepared for the next pandemic?” These reports are incredibly in-depth, giving the background, current situation and future outlook, as well as a bibliography, maps and charts, a chronology for the issue, and even contacts – people and groups who are SME’s on the material in question. My favorite part of a CQ Report, however, has to be the “Pro/Con” section, in which a question is asked relating to the topic. Two experts in the field, either from their testimony before Congress or in an essay written specifically for CQ, give their answer to the question. In the Avian Flu Threat report, for example, the question was, “Is there a serious risk of a human pandemic of avian flu?” The testimony of Michael T. Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota before the House Committee on International Relations answers the “pro” side of the question; Michael Fumento of the Hudson Institute, writing expressly for CQ, answered the “con” side.
Another resource, similarly aimed at giving background information to journalists, is the Nieman Center for Journalism at Harvard. Their “Covering Pandemic Flu” page offers a treasure trove of information. There’s an introduction, which includes the definition and etymology of the word “pandemic”, and an overview of the science behind the hype; pandemic preparedness at multiple levels, from individual to global; essays on the press coverage of flu, from veteran reporters in various countries; crisis communications information from Communications Directors at WHO and CDC; and finally, a history, glossary and bibliography of pandemic influenza. All the information has been developed and vetted by the Nieman Foundation, although links to other relevant material are offered.