Through a comparative analysis of Spanish newspaper coverage of the 1918 flu and COVID-19 pandemics, this article explores the parallels between them, their roles in reflecting and facilitating public perceptions of infectious diseases, the national dialogues they incite, and the search for solutions in a global health crisis. I use qualitative analysis to interpret media themes of contagion as they shift from societal complacency to panic as disaster unfolds. In weaving together Philip Strong’s model for epidemic psychology and Jim A. Kuypers’s rhetorical approach to news framing, I analyze how newspapers communicate changing assumptions about epidemiologic risks during pandemics.

通过对西班牙报纸对 1918 年流感和 COVID-19 大流行的报道进行比较分析，本文探讨了它们之间的相似之处、它们在反映和促进公众对传染病的看法方面的作用、它们煽动的全国对话以及寻找解决方案的方法。一场全球健康危机。我使用定性分析来解释传播的媒体主题，因为它们随着灾难的展开从社会的自满转变为恐慌。在将 Philip Strong 的流行病心理学模型和 Jim A. Kuypers 的新闻框架修辞方法编织在一起时，我分析了报纸如何传达有关大流行期间流行病风险的不断变化的假设。