Media coverage of the Ebola virus disease in four widelycirculated Nigerian newspapers: lessons from Nigeria

Smith, Sam; Smith, Stella Ifeanyi

doi:10.15171/hpp.2016.16

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…However, sensationalized media reporting on Ebola in areas outside the outbreak may have indirectly encouraged discrimination against Nigerians. In line with a previous quantitative analysis of Nigerian news articles, 8 "discrimination due to Ebola" was a major topic of news articles published by the Vanguard. Infectious disease outbreaks are not only public health challenges.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

“…4,5 Studies have explored coverage of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in media outlets such as Twitter, 6 Google, 4 YouTube 7 and print news media. 5,8 In a quantitative analysis of 301 articles published in three leading US newspapers, the most common topic was cases in the United States (39.0%), followed by the outbreak in West Africa (33.6%). 5 In contrast, in a quantitative analysis of 1625 articles published in four leading newspapers in Nigeria, the most common topic was Ebola cases in Nigeria (17.5%), followed by discrimination due to Ebola (10.8%).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…5 In contrast, in a quantitative analysis of 1625 articles published in four leading newspapers in Nigeria, the most common topic was Ebola cases in Nigeria (17.5%), followed by discrimination due to Ebola (10.8%). 8 These studies suggest a variation in representations of the Ebola outbreak based on the location of the news source; however, we have little information on the content of the articles they used as their data.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparing “insider” and “outsider” news coverage of the 2014 Ebola outbreak

Humphries

Radice

Lauzier

2017

Can J Public Health

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OBJECTIVES: Information provided by news media during an infectious disease outbreak can affect the actions taken to safeguard public health. There has been little evaluation of how the content of news published during an outbreak varies by location of the news outlet. This study analyzes coverage of the 2014 Ebola outbreak by one news outlet operating within a country affected by the outbreak and one country not directly affected.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Comparing “insider” and “outsider” news coverage of the 2014 Ebola outbreak

Humphries

Radice

Lauzier

2017

Can J Public Health

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“…21 Therefore, working with the journalists and the media to help them understand the science and epidemiology, particularly in a fast and moving event, will improve risk communication to the public and reduce inappropriate concerns and panic. 21 However, previous studies on media reportage of heath crises reveal that even though there exists sufficient scholarly discourse on media reportage of previous disease outbreaks such as Zika virus, influenza, flu, Ebola, and Lassa fever, [16][17][18][19][22][23][24] no empirical study on media framing of the current coronavirus outbreak was found. The need to fill this lacuna in the existing literature of media reportage of health crises necessitated this present study, and it is coming at a time when the COVID-19 outbreak is on the rapid increase all over the world.…”

Section: Mass Media and Coronavirusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nigeria media framing of coronavirus pandemic and audience response

Nwakpu¹,

Ezema²,

Ogbodo

2020

Health Promot Perspect

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Background: Part of the role of the media is to report any issue affecting the society to the masses. Coronavirus has become an issue of transnational concern. The importance of the media in the coverage of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Nigeria and its implications among Nigerian populace cannot be overestimated. This study evaluates how Nigerian media depict the coronavirus pandemic and how the depictions shape people’s perception and response to the pandemic. Methods: The study employed a quantitative design (newspaper content analysis and questionnaire). The content analysis examines the nature of media coverage of coronavirus in Nigeria and China using four major national newspapers (The Sun, The Vanguard, The Guardian and The Punch). The period of study ranged from January 2020 to March 2020. A total of 1070newspaper items on coronavirus outbreak were identified across the four newspapers and content-analysed. Results: The finding shows that the coverage of the pandemic was dominated by straight news reports accounting for 763 or (71.3%) of all analysed items. This was followed by opinions 169(15.8%), features 120 (11.2%) and editorials 18 (1.7%) respectively. The Punch 309 (28.9%)reported the outbreak more frequently than The Sun 266 (24.9%), The Guardian 258 (24.1%), and Vanguard 237 (22.1%). Finding further suggests that the framing pattern adopted by the newspapers helped Nigerians to take precautionary measures. Conclusion: Continuous reportage of COVID-19 has proved effective in creating awareness about safety and preventive measures thereby helping to ‘flatten the curve’ and contain the spread of the virus. However, the newspapers should avoid creating fear/panic in reporting the pandemic.

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“…Only few studies investigate media reporting on Ebola in the affected countries themselves. Two studies looked at how the Ebola crisis was framed by newspapers from the US and Canada, compared to an “insider” perspective of an Ebola affected country (Sierra Leone and Nigeria) [ 36 , 37 ]; one assessed the role of four Nigerian newspapers in creating awareness to stop the spread of Ebola [ 38 ]. To our knowledge, however, there is no study on media reporting in the Ebola epidemic in Liberia and no research so far has been published on the portrayal of Ebola survivors in the media during the epidemic in West Africa.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

"We are survivors and not a virus:" Content analysis of media reporting on Ebola survivors in Liberia

2017

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BackgroundThe Ebola virus disease epidemic between 2013 and 2016 in West Africa was unprecedented. It resulted in approximately 28.000 cases and 10.000 Ebola survivors. Many survivors face social, economic and health-related predicaments and media reporting is crucially important in infectious disease outbreaks. However, there is little research on reporting of the social situation of Ebola survivors in Liberia.MethodsThe study used a mixed methods approach and analysed media reports from the Liberian Daily Observer (DOL), a daily newspaper available online in English. We were interested to know how the situation of Ebola survivors was portrayed; in what way issues such as stigma and discrimination were addressed; and which stigma reduction interventions were covered and how. We included all articles on the situation of Ebola survivors in the quantitative and in-depth qualitative analysis published between April 2014 and March 2016.ResultsThe DOL published 148 articles that portrayed the social situation of Ebola survivors between the 24 months observation period. In these articles, Ebola survivors were often defined beyond biological terms, reflecting on a broader social definition of survivorship. Survivorship was associated with challenges such as suffering from after-effects, social and economic consequences and psychological distress. Almost 50% of the articles explicitly mentioned stigmatisation in their reporting on Ebola survivors. This was contextualised in untrustworthiness towards international responses and the local health care system and inconclusive knowledge on cures and transmission routes. In the majority of DOL articles stigma reduction and engaging survivors in the response was reported as crucially important.DiscussionReporting in the DOL was educational-didactical and well-balanced in terms of disseminating available medical knowledge and reflecting the social situation of Ebola survivors. While the articles contextualised factors contributing to stigmatisation throughout the reporting, journalistic scrutiny regarding effectiveness of interventions by government and NGOs was missing.

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Media coverage of the Ebola virus disease in four widelycirculated Nigerian newspapers: lessons from Nigeria

Cited by 15 publications

References 6 publications

Comparing “insider” and “outsider” news coverage of the 2014 Ebola outbreak

Comparing “insider” and “outsider” news coverage of the 2014 Ebola outbreak

Nigeria media framing of coronavirus pandemic and audience response

"We are survivors and not a virus:" Content analysis of media reporting on Ebola survivors in Liberia

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