The emergence of Covid-19 had a significant effect worldwide as well as media coverage from local, international, and global perspectives. Journalism institutions have offered essential insights which influence the understanding, policy formation, and significant problems surrounding the pandemic (Gisondi et al., 2022). Various media outlets worldwide had different ways in which they covered news related to the Covid-19 pandemic. This essay examines media coverage and the related reaction it obtained from various parts of the globe. The essay will underscore reaction variations, initiated moves, and the similarities and differences in different regions due to media coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The role of the media during the Covid-19 pandemic differed across the globe, mainly based on the media outlets’ cultural, regional, and political perspectives. Western countries such as the US, Canada, France, and Germany, with media outlets such as CNN and BBC, mainly aimed to give real-time information about infection rates, death rates, scientific advancements, and governmental guidelines. In contrast, other media outlets in countries such as China and Russia portrayed noticeable control in the media coverage. Media outlasts such as NHK, CGTN, and India Today aimed the same reporting with saddening stories of unity, resilience, and recovery. In countries with authoritarian leadership models, the media stressed government accomplishments lessening efforts on the healthcare system (Gisondi et al., 2022).
Reactions related to the Covid-19 pandemic information differed across various parts of the world. For instance, most developed countries, such as Europe, the United States, and Canada, portrayed their anxiousness by demanding time-to-time updates related to Covid-19 information (Gisondi et al., 2022). Most of the individuals from these countries were anxious to know if the virus had spread to the countries because it was projected to derail their economies as it could result in the closure of organizations to minimize the spread hence resulting in the loss of jobs among most people. In contrast, in developing and underdeveloped countries, most of the people were aimed at securing their livelihoods, and most of them dismissed the guidelines developed to reduce the spread of the virus, such as wearing masks in public places, keeping social distance, and frequently washing of their hands which the media outlets were passing.
The covid-19 pandemic media coverage raised varied movements across the world. For instance, in the United States, “Reopen America” was a protest movement raised by people and propelled by media outlets due to the lockdown government guideline (Anwar et al., 2020). Internationally, movements that were pushing for universal healthcare coverage surfaced. In a country such as India, a movement called “Massive migrant workers” was ignited because of the lockdown guidelines and its reporting on media outlets. Although the movements were from different parts of the world, all of them were triggered by the information they consumed from various media outlets.
Even though there were differences related to Covid-19 media coverage, there were some similarities across the regions. To begin, most media outlets across the globe underscored the significance of adhering to health measures such as wearing masks, social distancing, and frequent washing of hands. In the news of the mainstream media, the news anchors kept urging their viewers to adhere to the guidelines to ensure that they mitigate the spread of Covid-19 (Anwar et al., 2020). Consequently, social media platforms had ads that educated people on the measures they could use to reduce the spread of the virus. Also, real-time updates about the regional and global cases of Covid-19 and the progress related to vaccine findings were universally broadcasted (Tsao et al., 2021). All of the media houses worldwide kept educating people on the health guidelines to prevent them from contracting the virus.
However, the significant difference was how each country’s socioeconomic factor influenced media coverage on Covid-19 related information. Developed countries such as the United States, France, and Germany aimed at the development and distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine. On the other hand, developing countries, primarily those in Africa, focused on job security and economic fallout (Tsao et al., 2021). Consequently, the Western media outlets were aimed at governmental guidelines, healthcare system difficulties, and individual stories from the battlefront. On the other hand, media outlets from nations having central control aimed to stress national unity, leaders’ decisions, and resilience.
In conclusion, covid-19 media coverage showed different narratives across various media outlets while igniting different consumer movements and reactions. The media outlets also committed to spreading pandemic awareness to ensure that most people are unaffected by the virus. Although pandemics are usually universal, lived experiences differ significantly, and this has been vividly discussed in the section on the contrast between various places of media coverage during the pandemic. Although media outlets across the world had differences in conveying their messages, all of them were universal in passing the guidelines important for helping people reduce the spread of the virus or contracting it (Tsao et al., 2021). Future studies on this research topic should analyze how systemic differences in news delivery across the nations influenced people’s response and understanding of global issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
References
Gisondi, M. A., Barber, R., Faust, J. S., Raja, A., Strehlow, M. C., Westafer, L. M., & Gottlieb, M. (2022). A deadly infodemic: social media and the power of COVID-19 misinformation. Journal of medical Internet research, 24(2), e35552.
Tsao, S. F., Chen, H., Tisseverasinghe, T., Yang, Y., Li, L., & Butt, Z. A. (2021). What social media told us during COVID-19: a scoping review. The Lancet Digital Health, 3(3), e175-e194.
Anwar, A., Malik, M., Raees, V., & Anwar, A. (2020). Role of mass media and public health communications in the COVID-19 pandemic. Cureus, 12(9).
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