Childhood Obesity

“Risk Communication, the West Nile Virus Epidemic, and Bioterrorism: Responding to the Communication Challenges Posed by the Intentional or Unintentional Release of a Pathogen in an Urban Setting” was assigned as a reading in my writing for the public class. My initial reaction to the West Nile Risk Communication was, “What could they possible point out that was handled incorrectly?” As a new risk communicator I thought they covered all their bases. They assigned a creditable agent, the New York City of Health.” They had objective outreach plans in place for action. They seemed to have all of the channels of communication in place considering their audience, predicting what the audience concerns would be and they were prepared to handle those concerns.

            However, the next article section went on to critique the response plan. I found it very enlightening. It pointed out many items they didn’t consider: stakeholders risk perception factors, the risk perceptions of the expanded stakeholders i.e. wildlife experts and environmental groups. Their information was written above the recommended reading skill level. The information was too complex, it should have been written with more repetition and charts. The focus on the solution to spray pesticides and cancel public events lead the attention on the negatives causing more anxiety instead of “balancing” it with a more positive focus.  Seeing this in print should help me in my risk communication on childhood obesity.

            I find the section on bioterrorism risk very disturbing. Knowing that even the most well thought out plan on communication bioterrorism risk there are not possibly enough solutions to please everyone. There will be an issue in every aspect. However, as the article points out that doesn’t mean we should let a challenge like this stop us from attempting to have the best risk communication plan. The perceptions of the audience and stakeholders will be astronomical. I don’t think there is anyway to avoid dread, uncontrollability, inability to understand, moral violations etc. In short, I don’t know how to respond to this section. I found it very upsetting and threatening because it made me think about things that may be impossible to prevent or help once they have occurred. Now consider, that was my perception reading an article about communicating the risk. I can only imagine an actual risk being communicated to me. I did however; find it worthwhile because it made me realize how truly difficult risk communication can be.