Communicating Health Uncertainty: How Australia’s only National Broadsheet Newspaper Reported the Emerging COVID-19 Pandemic

Q2 Social Sciences

Asia Pacific Media Educator Pub Date : 2021-05-04 DOI:10.1177/1326365X211003738

P. Furlan

{"title":"Communicating Health Uncertainty: How Australia’s only National Broadsheet Newspaper Reported the Emerging COVID-19 Pandemic","authors":"P. Furlan","doi":"10.1177/1326365X211003738","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The news media play an important role in communicating health topics to the public (Hallin & Briggs, 2015, Media, Culture & Society, vol. 37, pp. 85–100). Often journalists are the first to raise the alarm about the safety of vaccines, medicines and pathogen outbreaks including emerging infectious diseases (Joffe, 2011, Public Understanding of Science, vol. 20, pp. 446–460). But the news media have also been accused of distorting, exaggerating or amplifying risks which can lead to fear-mongering and public panic (Klemm et al., 2016). This paper examines how the only national broadsheet newspaper of Australia, The Australian, reported the COVID-19 pandemic from its first media appearance in January 2020 with a focus also on 2 days in February and March 2020. These timeframes coincided with significant coronavirus milestones for Australia, such as the first COVID-19 infection; the first deaths; and the World Health Organisation’s declaration of a global pandemic. This paper found that The Australian coverage was not hyped but measured, with heavy reliance on analysis of the economic fallout of COVID-19. It also found evidence the conservative newspaper used war metaphors to convey the fight against the coronavirus.","PeriodicalId":43557,"journal":{"name":"Asia Pacific Media Educator","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2021-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/1326365X211003738","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Asia Pacific Media Educator","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1326365X211003738","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 2

Abstract

The news media play an important role in communicating health topics to the public (Hallin & Briggs, 2015, Media, Culture & Society, vol. 37, pp. 85–100). Often journalists are the first to raise the alarm about the safety of vaccines, medicines and pathogen outbreaks including emerging infectious diseases (Joffe, 2011, Public Understanding of Science, vol. 20, pp. 446–460). But the news media have also been accused of distorting, exaggerating or amplifying risks which can lead to fear-mongering and public panic (Klemm et al., 2016). This paper examines how the only national broadsheet newspaper of Australia, The Australian, reported the COVID-19 pandemic from its first media appearance in January 2020 with a focus also on 2 days in February and March 2020. These timeframes coincided with significant coronavirus milestones for Australia, such as the first COVID-19 infection; the first deaths; and the World Health Organisation’s declaration of a global pandemic. This paper found that The Australian coverage was not hyped but measured, with heavy reliance on analysis of the economic fallout of COVID-19. It also found evidence the conservative newspaper used war metaphors to convey the fight against the coronavirus.

查看原文本刊更多论文

传达健康不确定性:澳大利亚唯一的全国性大报如何报道新出现的COVID-19大流行

新闻媒体在向公众传播健康话题方面发挥着重要作用(Hallin & Briggs, 2015年，媒体，文化与社会，第37卷，第85-100页)。记者往往是第一个对疫苗、药物和病原体暴发(包括新出现的传染病)的安全性提出警告的人(Joffe, 2011年，《公众对科学的理解》，第20卷，第446-460页)。但新闻媒体也被指责扭曲、夸大或放大风险，这可能导致恐慌和公众恐慌(Klemm等人，2016)。本文研究了澳大利亚唯一的全国性大报《澳大利亚人报》如何从2020年1月首次在媒体上露面开始报道COVID-19大流行，并重点报道了2020年2月和3月的两天。这些时间框架与澳大利亚冠状病毒的重要里程碑相吻合，例如首次感染COVID-19;第一次死亡;世界卫生组织宣布全球大流行。本文发现，《澳大利亚人报》的报道不是炒作，而是有节制的，严重依赖于对COVID-19经济影响的分析。调查还发现，有证据表明这家保守派报纸使用了战争隐喻来传达抗击冠状病毒的斗争。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Asia Pacific Media Educator COMMUNICATION-

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Asia Pacific Media Educator is an international refereed journal published twice a year by SAGE Publications (New Delhi) in collaboration with the School of the Arts, English and Media, Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts, University of Wollongong in Australia. The journal follows international norms and procedures of blind peer reviewing by scholars representing a wide range of multi-disciplinary areas. APME focuses on generating discussions and dialogues among media educators, researchers and journalists. Content ranges from critical commentaries and essays to research reports and papers that contribute to journalism theory development and offer innovative ideas in improving the standard and currency of media reportage, teaching and training specific to the Asia Pacific region. Papers that integrate media theories with applications to professional practice, media training and journalism education are usually selected for peer review. APME also carries a Q&A section with book authors. APME takes conventional book reviews to a more creative level where reviewers directly engage with authors to understand the process that authors take in researching and writing the book, clarify their assumptions and pose critical questions.