1st Edition
Journalism and the Coronavirus Pandemic
This book explores how the Covid-19 pandemic triggered profound changes in the practice and consumption of digital journalism.
Featuring original research from around the globe, the volume examines key challenges of covering the pandemic from Zimbabwe to China and the UK. The research shows that the pandemic amplified threats to press freedom. At the same time, it took an emotional toll on journalists, who worried about their exposure to Covid-19 and dealt with challenges associated with a growing reliance on digital tools, as well as difficulties accessing sources and hostile reactions from audiences.
Charting the consequences of an increasingly complex media ecosystem, the volume addresses the rise of distrust in mainstream media, the influence of “alternative” news outlets, and the surge of misinformation and conspiracy theories. The volume also examines the polarized reactions of audiences and the complex relationship between public trust, government actions, and journalistic organisations. Despite the challenges, there are signs of increased audience engagement with news, pointing to a potential positive shift in journalism’s societal role.
This volume is essential reading for scholars and students in media and journalism studies seeking a comprehensive understanding of how the pandemic reshaped digital journalism.
The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Digital Journalism.
Introduction: The Coronavirus Pandemic and the Transformation of (Digital) Journalism
Thorsten Quandt and Karin Wahl-Jorgensen
1. Covering Conspiracy: Approaches to Reporting the COVID/5G Conspiracy Theory
Axel Bruns, Edward Hurcombe and Stephen Harrington
2. An Emotional Rally: Exploring Commenters’ Responses to Online News Coverage of the COVID-19 Crisis in Austria
Olga Eisele, Olga Litvyak, Verena K. Brändle, Paul Balluff, Andreas Fischeneder, Catherine Sotirakou, Pamina Syed Ali and Hajo G. Boomgaarden
3. Is Sensationalist Disinformation More Effective? Three Facilitating Factors at the National, Individual, and Situational Level
Anna Staender, Edda Humprecht, Frank Esser, Sophie Morosoli and Peter Van Aelst
4. Reporting the Covid-19 Pandemic: Trauma on Our Own Doorstep
Stephen Jukes, Karen Fowler-Watt and Gavin Rees
5. Digital News Readership and Subscription in the United States during COVID-19: A Longitudinal Analysis of Clickstream and Subscription Data from a Local News Site
Su Jung Kim, Xiaohan Wang and Edward C. Malthouse
6. “Crisis Coverage Gap”: The Divide between Public Interest and Local News’ Facebook Posts about COVID-19 in the United States
Gina M. Masullo, Jay Jennings and Natalie Jomini Stroud
7. Digital Technologies and the Changing Journalism Cultures in Zimbabwe: Examining the Lived Experiences of Journalists Covering the COVID-19 Pandemic
Mphathisi Ndlovu and Makhosi Nkanyiso Sibanda
8. Press Freedom during Covid-19: The Digital Discourses of the International Press Institute, Reporters Sans Frontières, and the Committee to Protect Journalists
Lindsay Palmer
9. Women’s Use and Abuse of the News Media during the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mumsnet
Sarah Pedersen and Simon Burnett
10. Refracting the Pandemic: A Field Theory Approach to Chinese Journalists’ Sourcing Options in the Age of COVID-19
Shuling Zhang and Qiong Wang
11. Change and Continuity in Digital Journalism: The Covid-19 Pandemic as Situational Context for Broader Arguments about the Field
Folker Hanusch
Biography
Thorsten Quandt is Professor of Communication Studies and Dean, Faculty of Education and Social Sciences at the University of Münster, Germany. He (co)published more than 200 scientific articles and several books. Quandt is a Fellow of the International Communication Association (ICA). His research and teaching fields include online communication, media innovation research, digital games and journalism.
Karin Wahl-Jorgensen is Professor in the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Culture and serves as University Dean of Research Environment and Culture. Her research focuses on journalism and citizenship, and she has authored or edited ten books. Recent books include Emotions, Media and Politics (2019), Digital Citizenship in a Datafied Society (2019, with Arne Hintz and Lina Dencik), and Handbook of Journalism Studies, 2nd edition (2020, Routledge, co-edited with Thomas Hanitzsch).
