Upcoming Event
“Panic in the Streets”: Historical Reflections on Fear-Based Media Messaging During Acute Public Health Crises
In public health, fear-based campaigns are regarded (rightly so) with caution and concern because their side effects of stigma and scapegoating can be so toxic. Those worries have been shaped by an awareness of the formidable power of mass media (newspapers, radio, TV) and now the “new” social media to amplify public health messaging in unexpected and undesirable ways. In this talk, Dr. Tomes will present a brief history of what she terms the “panic problem” in U.S. American public health practice to stimulate a discussion of those questions: how do we motivate people to act in a public health crisis without inducing some degree of fear? Is there a place for healthy fear in public health messaging today and if so, what would it look like?
Event Details
- Type
- Other Tri-Institutional Events
- Speaker(s)
-
Nancy Tomes, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of History, Stony Brook University
- Speaker bio(s)
-
Nancy Tomes is a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of History at Stony Brook University. In addition to many articles, several edited collections, and four books, Dr. Tomes has recently published (with Manon Parry) World Health Organization Health Evidence Network Synthesis Report 77, “What are the historical roots of the COVID-19 infodemic? Lessons from the past.” She is currently working on a new book, Viral Fears: Historical Perspectives in Pandemic Futures. She is also part of a team conducting oral histories with members of the Trump and Biden administrations who oversaw “Operation War Speed,” or the production, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
- Open to
- Public
- Host
- The Heberden Society, co-sponsored with the Division of Medical Ethics
- Contact
- Nicole Milano
- Phone
- (212) 476-6072
- Sponsor
-
Sana Masood
(212) 746-6072
sam4074@med.cornell.edu - Notes
- This is a hybrid event, open to the public