Media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic has varied by country, time period and media outlet. News media has simultaneously kept viewers informed about current events related to the pandemic, and contributed to misinformation or fake news.
COVID-19 pandemic
COVID-19 is a disease caused by a virus called SARS-CoV-2. Most people who contract COVID experience mild symptoms whereas others become severely ill. Elderly people and those with certain underlying medical conditions are more likely to get severely ill. There are currently four vaccines available in the United States to help prevent COVID-19: Pfizer, Moderna, Novavax, and Johnson & Johnson. They are known to be safe, effective, and reduce the risk of severe illness. The virus spreads when an infected person breathes out droplets and very small particles that contain the virus.
Media coverage in the United States
The COVID-19 pandemic has opened a new door for social media and mental health in ways that have never existed before. Mental health is at the forefront because it has been so severely impacted by the pandemic. People who were already suffering with mental health issues is being exacerbated by the isolation. Social media has not been covered as much even though it plays such an important role whether it comes from a positive or negative light. People were able to find online communities to help them during the isolation, but it also was negative because it made people feel more separated from everyone around them. It also does not help because everyone is so invested in their social media that they forget to communicate with the humans around them in person. The COVID-19 pandemic has also been associated with mental health challenges for those who are not infected with it, including the social and economic impacts of quarantine, physical distancing, stay-at-home orders, gathering bans, nonessential business closures, and additional measures introduced to reduce community transmission of the virus. Challenges for mental health associated with COVID-19 may arise via either indirect experiences with the virus (e.g., bereavement; social isolation and loneliness; uncertainty; socioeconomic distress) or from personal infection. A number of media outlets have specifically covered deaths of anti-vaccine advocates from COVID-19, leading to disputes over the propriety of such coverage.
Level and nature of coverage
The (COVID-19) pandemic has put a tremendous strain on many countries' citizens, resources, and economies around the world. This includes the social distancing measures, travel bans, self-quarantines, and business closures are changing the very fabric of societies worldwide. With people forced out of public spaces, much of the conversation about this pandemic and the after effects now occurs online and on social media platforms.
Within January 2020, the first full month in which the outbreak was known, Time recorded 41,000 English-language articles containing the term "coronavirus", of which 19,000 made it to headlines. This was compared with the Kivu Ebola epidemic, which had 1,800 articles and 700 headlines in August 2018. Paul Levinson, a researcher in communications and media studies, attributed this wide disparity to backlash from perceived overcoverage of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, coupled with concerns regarding Chinese censorship of the coverage.
Recode reported on 17 March that, out of 3,000 high-traffic news sites, around 1 percent of published articles are related to the disease, but those articles generate around 13 percent of all views, with subtopics such as social distancing, flattening the curve and self-quarantine being particularly popular. The total number of article views itself was some 30 percent higher in mid-March 2020 compared to in mid-March 2019.
An analysis of approximately 141,000 English language news headlines related to the Coronavirus from January 15, 2020, to June 3, 2020, uncovered that 52% of headlines evoked negative sentiments while only 30% evoked positive sentiments. The authors suggest that the headlines are contributing to fear and uncertainty which is having negative health and economic outcomes. Other studies in different contexts and focused in different media have found that news have not portrayed coping strategies and health behaviors as much as they could have. Other authors suggest that news coverage has resulted in the politicization of the pandemic, has been excessively concerned for the performance of political actors over the provision of scientific and self-efficacy information, and has been highly polarized.