När "spanskan" kom till norr: medias bevakning av spanska sjukan i Norrbotten

The Spanish flu (1918-1920), commonly referred to as “the Spanish”, caused the death of 25 to 50 million people. As many as 500 million people were infected worldwide and therefore the disease is seen as a pandemic. In this study the media coverage in the liberal newspaper Norrbottens-Kuriren connected to the outbreak of the Spanish flu has been looked into. This study shows that the media reports changed during the course of the Spanish flu, and that it also followed up on the various waves of the epidemic that struck Sweden. Media reports were all more alarming than calming. The contents of the media report can be summed up as covering criticism against the shortage of doctors, tragic family stories and speculation about the source of the taint and the ways it infected.Validerat; 20151105 (global_studentproject_submitter