How the Media Places Responsibility for the COVID-19 Pandemic—An Australian Media Analysis

Abstract

Global pandemics are likely to increase in frequency and severity, and media communication of key messages represents an important mediator of the behavior of individuals in response to public health countermeasures. Where the media places responsibility during a pandemic is therefore important to study as blame is commonly used as a tool to influence public behavior but can also lead to the subjective persecution of groups. The aim of this paper is to investigate where the media places responsibility for COVID-19 in Australia. Specifically, we identify the key themes and frames that are present and observe how they changed over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to government actions and progression of the pandemic. Understanding media representations of the COVID-19 pandemic will provide insights into ways in which responsibility is framed in relation to health action. Newspaper articles from the Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald were sampled between January 20 and March 31 2020 on every second Monday. Factiva was used to identify and download newspaper articles using the following search criteria: "COVID-19" OR coronavirus OR "Wuhan virus" OR "corona virus" OR "Hebei virus" OR "wet market" OR (Wuhan AND virus) OR (market AND Wuhan and virus) or (China AND Virus) or (Novel AND Virus). Articles were imported into Nvivo and thematic and framing analyses were used. The results show that framing of the pandemic was largely based on societal issues with the theme of economic disruption prevalent throughout the study time period. Moral evaluations of the pandemic were infrequent initially but increased co-incident with the first signs of "flattening of the curve." Explicit examples of blame were very rare but were commonly implied based on the causal origin of the virus. The Australian printed media were slow to report on the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition they were reluctant to apportion blame until the end of the study period, after confirmed case rates had begun to slow. This is interpreted as being due to an evaluation of the pandemic risks as low by the media and therefore the tools of othering and blame were not used until after the study period when the actual risks had begun to abate, more consistent with an inquiry than a mediating mechanism.

Canada’s Response to International Travel During COVID-19 Pandemic – A Media Analysis 

“…Our media analysis of three Canadian newspapers suggests that in the early days of the pandemic, much of the media attention remain focused on restricting the international travel, extended quarantines, nancial and social hardships, mental health issues, and healthcare and systems capacity coping with the pandemic. The media studies conducted elsewhere reported similar ndings (39,42,43).…”

“…Irwin argues the importance of factchecking and source critique and the need for precision when presenting data and statistics while evaluating the pandemic policies (42). On the contrary Australian media remained objective in reporting the pandemic and government's response (43) by framing the narrative speci cally around "action" and "consequence" (43,44), that were effective for Mad Cow Disease, West Nile virus, and Avian Flu outbreak responses earlier (44).…”

Learning about COVID-19: a qualitative interview study of Australians’ use of information sources

“…Information provided in news coverage of COVID-19 in Australia has included reporting of the first cases and deaths and the subsequent rapid spread of the novel coronavirus around the world, accounts of statements, decisions and press conferences held by political leaders and health authorities, strategies to avoid infection, medical controversies and debates and progress towards treatments for COVID-19 and vaccines [5,26,27]. In Australia, very early news reporting (January 2020) focused on the 'mystery Chinese virus' and made continual comparisons to SARS [26].…”

“…Subsequent news reporting largely focused on the social and economic impacts of the crisis. There was little blame or judgement directed at any social or national groups, although panic buyers did receive some criticism [27].…”

Learning about COVID-19: a qualitative interview study of Australians' use of information sources

“…Subsequent news reporting largely focused on the social and economic impacts of the crisis. There was little blame or judgement directed at any social or national groups, although panic buyers did receive some criticism (24).…”