Abstract

JIMENEZ MARCE, Rogelio. The 1918 influenza in Jalisco: a vision from El Informador. Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2023, vol.44, n.174, pp.123-148.  Epub Sep 25, 2023. ISSN 2448-7554.  https://doi.org/10.24901/rehs.v44i174.976.

In a time like ours, overwhelmed by a pandemic that seems to have no end, it is particularly important to approach the historical study of diseases, epidemics, and pandemics that affect various orders of life in societies. Although the 1918 influenza pandemic has been studied by different disciplines, not much attention has been paid to how newspapers reported the development of the disease; that is, how the news regarding the event were being disseminated. Thus, the objective of this article is to show, through the analysis of the articles published in El Informador, a newspaper published in Guadalajara (Jalisco), what type of information was published, the way in which the Jalisco authorities faced the health problem and what strategies they used, what results they obtained, how the population reacted to the health situation and what was its impact on the Jalisco territory. Despite the limits of the journalistic source in terms of specific data on the morbidity and mortality of the epidemic, it constitutes a privileged window to observe the activities undertaken by the state, municipal, and health authorities, as well as the reactions of society regarding the problem they were experiencing.

Keywords : 1918 flu; epidemic; public health; Jalisco; press.