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Part of
Manufacturing Dissent: Manipulation and counter-manipulation in times of crisis
Edited by Cornelia Ilie
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 339] 2024
► pp. 26–61

Chapter 1
Spanish influenza 1918/19

A diachronic and cross-cultural perspective on blame and blame-avoidance in media and politics in times of crisis

| University of Innsbruck | Eurac Research Bolzano

The study focuses on the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918/19, tracing the crisis coverage of two daily newspapers from two different countries, Austria and the United States, to reveal the general dynamics and manipulative potential of mediatized public discourse in times of crisis. The pragma-rhetoric analysis examines, first, which social actors gain access to the media to voice their opinion and, second, how they attempt to manipulate public perception to avoid blame, for example, by instrumentalizing certain groups as scapegoats. The results of the cross-national comparison of the two historic newspapers reveal patterns in crisis reporting on the Spanish flu that are intriguingly reminiscent of contemporary media coverage of the recent Corona Pandemic.

Keywords: crisis reporting, manipulating perceptions, blame avoidance, historic newspapers, pragmatics, argumentation, rhetoric, Spanish influenza pandemic
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction to times of crisis
  • 2.News coverage in times of crisis
  • 3.Manipulating perceptions of crisis and the role of the media
  • 4.Blame and blame avoidance
  • 5.Historical background, material and methods
  • 6.Mediatized discourse around the Spanish influenza 1918/19 in Austria and the US
  • 7.Conclusions and outlook
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 17 January 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.339.01sto
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