ABSTRACT
Ethics covers the gray areas of situational dilemmas where there is no clear right or wrong and no clear indication of good. This chapter considers the concept of public interest communication and the greater good, through a case study analysis of the measles outbreak that occurred in early 2015. The fact that serious infectious disease could so easily reappear in the United States is concerning because in the years between 2000 and the Disneyland outbreak, public opinion toward immunization in the United States moved from one of general acceptance of mass immunization policies to polarized views on the issue. Public health communication, as a form of public interest communication, is concerned with societal-level change and requires media to dissemi nate health-related messages. However, ethical issues arise when some individuals within the larger population are at greater risk than others as the result of proposed changes, or when vulnerable members of society stand to gain or lose disproportionately from the changes.
