FluPortal.org

The idea for KCUR’s new H1N1 page grew from a quick FluPortal tour that PRX’s Rekha Murthy gave program director Bill Anderson at PRPD last month. Anderson returned home to Missouri excited to build a swine-flu page for his station.

He explained to me earlier this week that he and KCUR’s news director and web manager put their heads together to figure out how to prioritize the project. Anderson said they saw it as “an example of what we should do for our site” — a chance to experiment with “destination content.” They decided to assemble “a complete package of resources.” They wanted it to be a source of “sound information” because there’s “so much alarmism” out there and because, he said, “our audience trusts us.”

So web manager Sara Crane set about putting the page together. Here’s how she described the process:

FluPortal was a help to me in creating content for our new H1N1 page. As a one person web shop, my time is always stretched thin. It was really helpful to have so many links, graphics and widgets all in one place. [...]

In designing this page, I really wanted the appearance and the content to create a calm and intelligent effect, rather than a panicky, fear-mongering type of effect. There is so much of that kind of H1N1 coverage out there, I felt it was important that we avoid it, so as best to serve our public radio audience.

Anderson decided that the page would need “high visibility to give it a chance.” So there’s a link to it on KCUR’s homepage, and he “created an on-air promo campaign to support it.” He’s looking forward, he says, to “seeing what traffic the promos generate.”

Should you say “H1N1″ or “swine flu” — or both — in your reporting?

Joe Neel, the health editor of NPR’s science desk, explained NPR’s policy in a recent email to the FluPortal team. NPR, he says, uses both terms interchangeably. When using “H1N1,” it “prefer[s] ‘new H1N1′ or ‘pandemic H1N1,’ at least on first reference.”

This is the reasoning:

–The virus is a new swine virus, so it is accurate to call it ”swine flu” or “new swine flu.”
 
–The virus is a new H1N1 virus, so it is also accurate to call it “H1N1″ or “the new H1N1 virus.” 
 
–We view “swine flu” as somewhat more precise scientifically than  ”H1N1.” There are at least 11,000 strains of animal flu viruses called H1N1, some of them swine, some human, some bird, etc. The top virologists in the world agree that this is a swine H1N1.  
 
–The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls it “2009 H1N1 (Swine Flu).”

Go ahead: it’s safe to BBQ
[ctaloi / CC (usable on your site) / Flickr]

The U.S. pork industry is unhappy about the “swine flu” moniker. For starters, H1N1 is made up of genetic material from swine and avian (bird) and human influenza viruses, and it hasn’t infected U.S. swine. So, it says, why blame the pigs? More importantly, the term “swine flu” has hurt hog prices, though you can’t get the flu by grilling up a nice chop or bacon.

Michelle O’Neill, news editor at WVIK in Illinois (Augustana Public Radio), just emailed us to explain that her station uses only “H1N1″ as a result of listener feedback:

We have received a number of calls from our listeners who are farmers, pork producers, and in the business community who object to the term “swine flu.” [...]

Unless reporters who refer to it as “swine flu” give explanations in every story that the strain is a combination of several types and not swine alone, the term is vague. I hope NPR will consider changing its policy for clarity and accuracy.

So it’s up to you. You can argue it both ways. FluPortal will follow NPR’s lead and use both terms.

[Update 21 October 2009: Swine flu has now appeared in US pigs. The Department of Agriculture says pork remains safe to eat.]

NPR has consolidated its H1N1 coverage with the launch of a special series, “Swine Flu: The Second Wave“.  The web page will collect H1N1 coverage from NPR news reports and blogs as we head into flu season. NPR has also added the Second Wave series to the API Query Generator. Any stations using the older World Health H1N1 API feed should change to the new series to receive updated Swine Flu coverage this fall. Additionally, stations (and audience members) can take advantage of  the series RSS feed. We’ve updated our Web Resources page and NPR API guide to reflect the new NPR series.

Public health issues often get their own Public Service Announcements (PSAs), and H1N1 has gotten its fair share of audio and video treatments. Congresspeople have gotten in on the action, too: Look for audio and video PSAs by your state’s representatives.

The Department of Health and Human Services, having recorded several PSAs and with several more to come, enlisted the help of the very public it’s trying to educate. The 2009 Flu Prevention PSA Contest had 240 submissions. A panel of public health and media experts selected 10 finalists, and now the public gets to vote on their favorite.

You and your listeners can vote, too, until September 16. Vote here.

The winner gets $2500 and airtime on a number of media outlets. Maybe public media outlets, too.

This one didn’t make it to the finals. But it deserves some appreciation.