Covering H1N1 flu virus: college campuses being hit, papers drop the link ball
August 28, 2009 in College Media, Websites
(photo by C. Goldsmith and D. Rollin/CDC Public Domain) #
Well, that didn’t take long. Only a couple of weeks into the new school year, and already U.S. college campuses are getting hit with cases of the H1N1 flu virus. #
College media are covering the story, and if your newspaper hasn’t done anything on the virus – already declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization last spring – now would be a good time to start. #
Here are some of the colleges already hit by the virus: #
University of Illinois: U. of Ill. students sick with suspected H1N1 flu — chicagotribune.com #
Case of H1N1 virus confirmed at Armory House | The Daily Illini #
Vanderbilt University: Possible H1N1 cases at Vanderbilt nearly doubles to 52 with 10 confirmed | InsideVandy #
University of Kansas: University begins to prepare for H1N1 : Kansan.com #
Texas Christian University: University not to disclose number of students showing flu symptoms – News #
Georgia Tech: Hundreds affected by H1N1 virus – August 28, 2009 – Technique #
University of Alabama: Crimson White – Flu season comes early #
University of Georgia: H1N1 infects dorms – News #
University of Tennessee: Swine flu rises at US colleges; 100 cases suspected at UT » Knoxville News Sentinel #
Carnegie-Mellon: The Tartan Online : Campus prepares for H1N1 #
Western Carolina U.: Western Carolinian – H1N1 Flu Cases Suspected at WCU #
University of Colorado: Swine flu at CU-Boulder: 40-50 students possibly infected with H1N1 – Colorado Daily #
Xavier University-Cincinnati: The Xavier Newswire – Front Page – week of August 26, 2009 #
Seven H1N1 Cases Confirmed At Xavier University – Health News Story – WLWT Cincinnati #
These are just the schools I found in a few minutes of searching the Google. #
One common characteristic of all of these stories is the lack of links to other sources for information. If you’re going to write a story about H1N1, the least you could do for your online audience is put up a link to the CDC’s flu.gov web site, so people can find out more than they can in the 12-inch news story. There’s also the Flu Wiki, which provides a roundup of flu news from around the world. #
This is basic online journalism 101, and the minimum that should be included in any online story about an important health situation. #
In this instance, I have to single out Vanderbilt’s InsideVandy as a positive example. Reporter Sara Gast did provide links in her story to other news sources about universities that were experiencing outbreaks, but no links to the CDC or Flu Wiki. IV also posted a video and a Q&A with a preventive medicine professor. #
But look at the dates. I've been following the Univ of AL reports. After the August 20 announcement of 54 cases, eight days passed with no updates from Tuscaloosa, either the campus or city media, until today. Now there is news again. Updates on total cases? No. Reports on class absences? No. The only reason there is new news now is because 4 or 5 football players have come down with it.
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[...] recent CICM post that’s worth mentioning here is this one on college papers’ H1N1 flu coverage. The blog notes that more than a dozen campus papers [...]
The prediction is that 1 in 4 people that come in contact with the H1N1 virus will catch it. With large crowded campuses this is possible.
I have to plug my student newspaper — TheAllState.org. We included links to the CDC. I've heard students talking about H1N1 on campus — and if they are talking about it, we feel we should be covering it!
The Campus Buzz has been distributing links to good stories and information on H1N1 as they relate to college campuses through our health feed at http://www.thecampusbuzz.com/news-feeds/healthSyndication is made easy with the widget that you will find on the page (and all of our other news feeds' pages). It can be customized to match a website's color scheme and space restrictions. Good option for small or overworked news staffs or just a good way to complement existing content.
These days, the issue in H1N1 are slowly dissapear and I'm really happy about this.. I hope that this virus will no longer exist again…
You also need to consult the American College Health Association (ACHA) which has been tracking H1N1 in university settings.
Here is a great one. From the new College Media Network site…<a href="http://news.collegemedianetwork.com/search/H1N1+vaccine" rel="nofollow"> <a href="http://;http://news.collegemedianetwork.com/search/H1N1…;http://news.collegemedianetwork.com/search/H1N1…<br />Links to over 100 "H1N1 Vaccine" articles written by students/
Here is a great one. From the new College Media Network site…
<a href="http://news.collegemedianetwork.com/search/H1N1+vaccine" rel="nofollow"> <a href="http://;http://news.collegemedianetwor…” target=”_blank”>;http://news.collegemedianetwor…
Links to over 100 "H1N1 Vaccine" articles written by students/
Here is a great one. From the new College Media Network site…
http://news.collegemedianetwor…
Links to over 100 “H1N1 Vaccine” articles written by students/
Here is a great one. From the new College Media Network site…
http://news.collegemedianetwor…
Links to over 100 “H1N1 Vaccine” articles written by students/