Media Coverage of The Covid-19 Pandemic
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Media Coverage of The Covid-19 Pandemic
Different types of media have covered corona virus disease and the pandemic in different ways throughout the time it was present in different countries up to now. Currently the coverage has declined by a large extent and there are factors attributed to this, however the most important thing is to look at how the media coverage has been and what factors led to this as well as the effects of the media coverage of the whole pandemic and how I impacted the lives of people who fed on such specific media. Even though corona virus is not yet over there is a renewed hope that everything will get better and that the disease will be done away with soonest possible and this gives hope to a lot of people and social institutions. The media has a role to play in this as well because it is the social institution majorly given the responsibility of making sure that the public gets the truth as well as giving hope. With the media laying a very important role during the Covid-19 presentation therefore most people expected the media to give hope and to continue making sure that the people got the truth. This paper discusses the media coverage of corona virus diseases and covid-19 pandemic for the last two years and its effects on the people who watched news or followed the presentations.
Review of The Peer-Reviewed Literature
There has been research into this field and it is an important thing to look into not only for addition to the research being carried but with the aim of understanding how the media presented the issue f covid-19 to the people. This research will utilize different kinds of researches done towards the media presentation of covid-19 pandemic as a basis of understanding the nature of the different media like television, radio and others towards presentation of information relevant to the people and to the dealing with the issue of corona virus. These resources are summarized and discussed below.
Mellado et al discusses the manner in which different mainstream media presented the issue of corona virus on their Facebook, Instagram and twitter accounts. Even though this might not be the best kind of analysis when it comes to understanding the issue of corona virus pandemic since most of the viewers focused on maybe television presentation or radio station discussions, it is an important part of the interaction and serves to provide information about statistics and interaction level. One advantage of these three types of media is that they provide a very clear data analysis of the interaction with which a tweet, Instagram post or Facebook post had over a certain period of time and this is what this research analysis to come up with its findings.
However, media is not immune to criticism and in some instances, it is not just criticism but in real sense the truth about media. Matt Motta and his companions discuss how the media played a big role in mis-informing the public about the disease and the pandemic when I was in its first stages. They state that even though it was not the mistake of the media, they played a big role in making people scared. For instance, just like any human would be scared, the reporters were scared too and some of them even took their TV programs to their homes. Some even stopped working and they had to see how the work would be like with the pandemic. However, the others who remained at work too very strict measures towards making sure that they were not affected. This even though very important, to some people it was not just taking care of themselves but a source of anxiety and change.
Another peer-reviewed article that discusses a similar issue is the article by Krawczyk et al. through their discussion they present to the readers the importance of making sure that the correct information is received. They analyze the effectiveness of media in making sure that the people get the real news and that they enable them to make the right decision in regard to the issues at hand. This research establishes a very strong connection between communicative ability of the media and the medical guidelines of the medical fraternity in trying to curb the disease and the public anxiety. The peer reviewed article states that the media was responsible for communication to the Americans while the medical fraternity like the nurses, the doctors and the researchers were responsible for telling the people the truth through the media and letting people know what they were dealing with.
According to Basch et al, the coverage of covid-19 was a great idea in making sure that individuals kept themselves safe and clear, however at the same time the health officers and practitioners have a very big role to play when it comes to public health since they are the people responsible for the decisions which people make in the instances when the correct information is not passed to the people through the different types of media which present different types of information. Basch et al discusses the importance of medical advice and professionalism when it comes to the issue of public health. This is relation to the corona virus. As many people needed to take health measures seriously it was important that the health practitioners be involved because they were to give the correct information regarding how to take care of oneself.
Lastly Pearman et al discusses the media as a link between the society and science and the role this plays in making sure that the right information is disseminated to the public. One of the major issues which present itself herein are the problems of the public having a high need to know what is happening in the medical world and in the field of corona virus infections, deaths and levels in different geographical areas while the media has almost stopped reporting the issue. The same energy with which the media received the issues when it had just begun in 2020 is not the same as now and this therefore leads Pearman and his companions to question the role of media when it comes to society and medical fraternity and its acting as a bridge.
Hypothesis
This is defined as proposed explanation of a phenomena. Therefore, in this investigation towards the media coverage of covid-19, two questions have to be answered and these are; why the media was so hyped about corona virus at the start and why it is no longer hyped about the corona virus updates now.
These questions can be answered hypothetically in that:
The media was hyped about corona virus and covid-19 pandemic because it was a trend of that time
The media has stopped being hyped about corona virus and covid-19 pandemic because it is no longer the most important thing as people have go vaccines and people are mostly back to their normal lives.
Media is defined as the major means of mass communication which include such things like internet, publishing and broadcasting. Therefore, when media is stated to have been hyped about the corona virus it refers to the manner in which media in all its three sectors and categorizations publicized the issue of corona virus. Corona virus is a contagious disease which affects the respiratory system and can make one die very soon if infected and their immune system is not strong enough and if they do not get the care they need. Covid-19 pandemic is the adverse effects related to corona virus disease. Therefore, it is not just the disease, it mainly refers to the different effects the disease has on the society. Trend is something that gets people to hold together and focus all their attention to it as it is something of big concern to the people.
Research Design
Corona virus being such a contagious disease, a lot of people tend to think of it in terms of how deadly or how negative it is. On the side of the media which acts as the link between medical fraternity and the public corona virus is a social issue which needs addressing and advertising as much as possible. To pharmacies and several other businesses corona virus is a boost to their business. However, the basic thing is that corona virus is negative and has had negative impacts on the society. The major sources of data for this research were national public radio, Washington post, Florida News Headlines which is a local newspaper in Florida, fox news channel and twitter account for MSNBC channel. These sources of data were very significant in understanding and coming up with the research since they all shown how the media presented the issue of corona virus at the beginning and right now the urge to report is not as much as it was before. It also shows that human fear and concern are spread through the media as the corona virus was a manifestation of this.
National Public Radio (NPR) was the main source of information as it informs people of the different kinds of information that they consider important. NPR is very important in reaching a of people and in making sure that the Americans are notified about corona virus and the pandemic because it was created by an act of the congress and therefore it serves American citizens. It is one of the most far reaching radio program and station as it controls and manages the over 1000 public radio stations all over the united states. The fact that it is owned by the government and it controls other media makes it a very special kind of media and therefore the most important part of the research. Therefore, it was the main source of data for the research because its policies and guidelines reflected upon the radio stations which are controlled by it. With this control and power, it becomes the basic source of information about corona virus media coverage because not only does the information show how it covered it also shows any measures taken into place or employed for the specific period of corona virus pandemic.
The Washington post is an American newspaper published in Washington. It is one of the most read and most circulated within the Washington metropolitan area. It has a great influence as it has won 69 Pulitzer awards coming second after the New York times. This means that its influence and its activities are of great significance to Americans. Therefore, its coverage of corona virus was taken into keen consideration when it comes to the number of times the newspaper mentioned or had covid-19 announced or mentioned in its writings. The Washington post is a very important newspaper especially when it comes to the reporting of covid-19 cases and issues. Due to the importance of corona virus issues the Washington post created a section for corona virus daily updates and this has been of significance since getting the data about the news of the Washington post was not difficult. The only part which was difficult but done by a software was looking into the number which corona virus is mentioned in the whole reporting cases whether directly or indirectly related to corona virus. One disadvantage of this media type is that not everyone appreciates or reads newspapers. On the other side, it is very reliable and it is highly valued.
Florida News Headlines is a newspaper in Florida. It mainly reports issues about Florida and it is a local newspaper. Even though it is a local newspaper, it has had a great presentation of the facts which present themselves and especially with the covid-19 pandemic and period. It has a section dedicated to corona virus reports only and this shows how the issue was important in the whole of America as even a local newspaper does have a section for corona virus only. Even though through the newspaper there is mention of the corona virus in different parts, there is the main part of the newspaper website section that reports anything related to corona virus and this was impressive as getting information about corona virus from the newspaper was simple. One of the weaknesses of this paper is the ability to reach just very close while others reach the whole country. However, its strength is the ability to give news which people can easily relate with since it is from their state.
Fox news is a channel that is widely watched in the whole of united states and even beyond. It is a national television and from the time corona virus was reported in the united states it has been presenting information and news about corona virus. Its reporting is majorly based on the rates of corona virus in the united states in comparison with the rest of the world. However, there are also stories surrounding covid-19 and this is an important aspect of every story as corona virus and all happenings that happen in our daily lives come with stories. Therefore, in fox news apart from just telling about the different statistics of corona virus which are very important, they also tell about the aspect of corona virus in relation to individuals, groups and organizations within the united states of America. Some of these individuals have very moving stories and it becomes very important for them to be noticed and recognized alongside the statistics and without forgetting the bigger picture. One strength of fox news is the presentation of news in a brief manner and making sure that simple language is used for simple understanding. One weakness is that the presentation of information about corona virus might not be so beneficial but is important. Therefore, this is a weakness on the side of the fox news.
The last news channel is MSNBC twitter account. Microsoft + National Broadcasting Company (MSNBC), is a big news organization and it has very involving content. However, in this instance its news were not evaluated in the normal way but rather through the method of their social media account and which is twitter. This means that eve though they have very great news about corona virus its data is taken from the twitter account only and this means that its interaction and the different kind of postings about corona virus are important. It is true that this news channel twitter account has been active from the time of corona virus and it was even active before covid-19 came about. However, corona virus changed it significantly by making sure that everything about the news is changed and slots had to be fixed for corona virus. The titter account also saw a very increased rate of communication between people in twitter from the time corona virus was mentioned. One weakness of this kind of content and information covering is that people do not always get to know about things taking place and therefore it is very difficult for some people to get engaged into conversations especially about covid-19 which could change a person’s life completely. Even though the kind of posting and social media influence is majorly disliked by a lot of people if the information is passed through twitter, it becomes a very fast for a person to engage and maybe even retweet. Most young people do not sit and watch news therefore this kind of activity is the best thing to get their attention.
Media Popularity Decline rate in reporting corona virus
Washington post High 9%
MSNBC twitter account Low 40%
Fox news High 10%
Florida News Headlines Middle 30%
The above table presents the rate at which the different media used to present information about corona virus has declined from the time period when corona virus was a very big threat and people were filled with a lot of fear because of it.
All these different media use different styles to present their information. According to Bennett Bias there are four types of information bias in the media. These include: dramatization, personalization, and authority disorder bias and fragmentation. All of these were present in the 4 different types of news media interacted with. Firstly, dramatization become a bias whereby a person who might be the writer dramatizes certain issues in their writing and when some readers look at it they do not think that such should be dramatized. For example, in fox news some issues were presented about corona virus and the presenters engaged in a bit of dramatization of the same. This was countered by a lot of discussion in the comment section as some individuals claimed that they did not find it important or worthy to have such dramatized especially because it was related to corona virus.
Personalization in most times is usually a good idea for a good type of news to make even more sense as a person will most likely relate to it and present their issues easily with personification. However, personification can be difficult and not okay for a lot of people who do not relate to a certain issue and they just want to get the details. It is an important part of everyday life to personalize certain issues and others to present as just statistics and data without personalizing.
Bibliography
“MD’s Media Blog.” n.d. Accessed November 29, 2021. https://m1485995.blogspot.com/2005/10/bennett-bias-bennett-mentions-4-types.html#:~:text=Bennett%20mentions%204%20types%20of%20information%20bias%20in.
Basch, Corey H., Grace Clarke Hillyer, Zoe Meleo-Erwin, Jan Mohlman, Alison Cosgrove, and Nasia Quinones. “News coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic: Missed opportunities to promote health sustaining behaviors.” Infection, Disease & Health 25, no. 3 (2020): 205-209.
Krawczyk, Konrad, Tadeusz Chelkowski, Swapnil Mishra, Denise Xifara, Benjamin Gibert, Daniel Joseph Laydon, Seth Flaxman et al. “Quantifying the online news media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.” medRxiv (2020).
Mellado, Claudia, Daniel Hallin, Luis Cárcamo, Rodrigo Alfaro, Daniel Jackson, María Luisa Humanes, Mireya Márquez-Ramírez et al. “Sourcing pandemic news: A cross-national computational analysis of mainstream media coverage of Covid-19 on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.” Digital Journalism (2021): 1-25.
Motta, Matt, Dominik Stecula, and Christina Farhart. “How right-leaning media coverage of COVID-19 facilitated the spread of misinformation in the early stages of the pandemic in the US.” Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique 53, no. 2 (2020): 335-342.
Pearman, Olivia, Maxwell Boykoff, Jeremiah Osborne-Gowey, Midori Aoyagi, Anne Gammelgaard Ballantyne, Patrick Chandler, Meaghan Daly et al. “COVID-19 media coverage decreasing despite deepening crisis.” The Lancet Planetary Health 5, no. 1 (2021): e6-e7.
