Credibility of the Printed Media: The Swine Flu as a Case Study

The issue of credibility becomes especially pronounced in times of crises, which characteristically abound in the unknown, uncertainty, and doubt. Such crises are mostly sudden, often complex, andsometimes mired in controversial events. The public subsequently craves more information in times of crises, such that they may obtain more precise guidance, and ease their ability to cope. Given the relatively low frequency of crisis situations, most people lack actual experience relevant to a given predicament. The appearance of Virus A (H1N1) at the onset of 2009 is one such case. Despite H1N1’s classification as a broad-scale, serious health hazard, preventive vaccinations failed to reach a large segment of the population. We contend that the lack of credibility in informing the public through the media contributed considerably to this failure. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to determine the level of credible information provided by the print media from which the general public could have taken an informed position on the crisis in question. Quantitative research and content analysis ascertained from a body of print media sources with national coverage reveals that the Croatian print media, contrary to our expectations, largely rely on official sources and transparently cite authors, which contributes to a higher degree of credibility. Yet further analysis of the number of sources suggests that most journalists used on average only one or no named sources, which significantly reduces the credibility of the published articles.