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Delegitimizing Rural Public Health Departments: How Decaying Local News Ecologies, Misinformation, and Radicalization Undermine Community Storytelling Networks

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  • Nikki Usher

Abstract

This article considers the public communication challenges that health officials in rural America faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. I analyze the role that public health officials played in communicating news and information about the pandemic in 29 rural counties in Illinois. These officials were challenged by a diminished reporting capacity among local media outlets, and by a political radicalization of local Republicans, who no longer regarded local media as trusted nodes in local storytelling networks. I find that while public health officials can help fill a community’s critical information needs about risk and emergency, the public’s take-up of this information depends on sociocultural and political forces that shape the broader communication context.

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  • Nikki Usher, 2023. "Delegitimizing Rural Public Health Departments: How Decaying Local News Ecologies, Misinformation, and Radicalization Undermine Community Storytelling Networks," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 90-108, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:707:y:2023:i:1:p:90-108
    DOI: 10.1177/00027162231215655
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kokil Jaidka & Sean Fischer & Yphtach Lelkes & Yifei Wang, 2023. "News Nationalization in a Digital Age: An Examination of How Local Protests Are Covered and Curated Online," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 189-207, May.
    2. Lewis A. Friedland, 2023. "Taking It to the States: The Origins of Critical Information Needs," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 21-28, May.
    3. Stephanie Edgerly & Yu Xu, 2023. "Local-Level Information-Seeking in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Repertoire Approach," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 172-188, May.
    4. Justin Travis & Scott Harris & Tina Fadel & Ginny Webb, 2021. "Identifying the determinants of COVID-19 preventative behaviors and vaccine intentions among South Carolina residents," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(8), pages 1-15, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ava Francesca Battocchio & Kjerstin Thorson & Dan Hiaeshutter-Rice & Marisa Smith & Yingying Chen & Stephanie Edgerly & Kelley Cotter & Hyesun Choung & Chuqing Dong & Moldir Moldagaliyeva & Christophe, 2023. "Who Will Tell the Stories of Health Inequities? Platform Challenges (and Opportunities) in Local Civic Information Infrastructure," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 144-171, May.
    2. Joshua P. Darr, 2023. "How Sticky Is Pink Slime? Assessing the Credibility of Deceptive Local Media," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 109-124, May.
    3. Stephanie Edgerly & Yu Xu, 2023. "Local-Level Information-Seeking in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Repertoire Approach," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 172-188, May.

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