Communicating the 1957 Asian influenza outbreak in a small state : the Times of Malta as a case study

Abstract

This work proposes an overview of a pandemic from a communication perspective, based on the systematic analysis of the coverage of a particular influenza outbreak from a specific newspaper in Malta, a small European island state. The paper documents the various cycles of coverage of the Asian influenza pandemic of 1957, from its origins in China and spread across the globe to its eventual arrival in Malta, with a focus on containment measures to be taken by the public and by the health authorities. The study suggests that Malta’s status as a fortress colony throughout the centuries, and its experiences with various other communicable diseases, prepared the population and its administration for a suitable protocol to minimise the negative consequences of the ‘invasion’.