An analysis of general-audience and Black news sites’ coverage of African American issues during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This study has compared the news coverage of African American issues during the COVID-19 pandemic between general-interest online newspapers and Black news sites. Compared with COVID-19 pandemic news coverage by general-interest news sites, news coverage by Black news sites included significantly higher number of stories with African American issues. This study also identifies similarities in pandemic news coverage of African American issues between local news sites and Black news sites publishing from Black-majority cities.

Local TV News Coverage of Racial Disparities in COVID-19 During the First Wave of the Pandemic, March–June 2020

“…Our analysis, combined with similar findings from Biswas et al (2021), suggests that structural (versus individual) explanations were more discussed in news of COVID-19 impacts on people of color in the early stages of the pandemic in the U.S. This is contrary to other previous studies of racial/ethnic disparities in non-COVID health outcomes (Nagler et al, 2016;Taylor-Clark et al, 2007).…”

“…However, racial minorities were underrepresented in COVID-19 news articles (January 21 through June, 2020) (Xu et al, 2022). Another study revealed that the coverage of African American issues (between March and May 15, 2020) by Black websites and mainstream news outlets were very similar to each other, including emphasizing societal over individual causes of racial disparities in health outcomes (Biswas et al, 2021). Evaluating the characteristics of messaging on COVID-19-related racial disparities is essential in understanding the role that local TV news may have played in shaping public knowledge regarding COVID-19 and related racial disparities.…”