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The Relationship Between COVID-19 and the Media: Measuring Current Audience Media Behavior and Reaction to COVID-19 News

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The Relationship Between COVID-19 and the Media: Measuring Current Audience Media Behavior and Reaction to COVID-19 News The Relationship between COVID-19 and the Media: Measuring Current Audience Media Behavior and Reaction to COVID-19 News. by Connor Skahill M.A. in Media and Strategic Communication, December 2020, The George Washington University A Thesis submitted to The Faculty of The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Arts January 8, 2021 Thesis directed by Sean Aday Associate Professor of Media and Public Affairs © Copyright 2021 by Connor Skahill All rights reserved ii Dedication I wish to dedicate this thesis to those who dedicate their lives to fighting COVID- 19, not only the frontlines, but those who are passionate in fighting for truth and transparency across reporting and journalism, now more than ever. iii Acknowledgements I wish to acknowledge those who have played a part in all my academic studies and for supporting me through all highs and lows, and especially during the most unprecedented final semester of studies I could have anticipated. iv Abstract of Thesis The Relationship between COVID-19 and the Media: Measuring Current Audience Media Behavior and Reaction to COVID-19 News. The coronavirus disease, or COVID-19, is currently taking our world by storm. The novel respiratory and infectious disease has sickened millions and has killed 200,000 and counting in the United States alone, and it does not seem to be slowing. The coronavirus has been a topic of debate and discussion in the media since early 2020. In the beginning, the disease was not portrayed as a huge threat to the health system and economy of the United States. However, as we are almost nine months into the unprecedented quarantine, we cannot escape the coronavirus in reality and on the news. Therefore, it is crucial for Americans to gain, maintain, and regularly consume information regarding the current status and the critical repercussions of the illness. In this paper, I will examine the role the media are playing in shaping the United States’ population understanding of the virus, as I consider disinformation, the coronavirus outlined as either a political or an economic issue, and finally, the dramatic heightening or unfair minimization of the disease. When I acknowledge that the media have a role in shaping, I allude to this problem stems to how the media frame the COVID-19 pandemic. Is the news story positive or negative, is it accurate or misleading, is there bias? It is important to decipher that I will be discussing media on a national scale, not focusing on local or global media in terms of the relationship. I define media as the information given and received via national television news, social media, and the Internet as a whole. In addition, I will then argue that the media need to strengthen the reporting of the coronavirus if we are in this situation for the foreseeable future. The v following thesis will be divided into sections focusing on skewed coronavirus coverage (‘fake news’), how the media are distracting from the health issues of the coronavirus by transforming the illness into a domestic and foreign policy issue, and how the press is covering the virus as a partisan issue. I will look at data that shows how the American public is relying on social media at this time, not only out of boredom, but also for information and education. Thus, I argue that the information on different sites needs to be better and more reliable than ever. In my study, I will conduct an original content analysis as well as in depth interviews in hopes of understanding how the media are shaping the interviewees’ understanding of the coronavirus. Finally, with this qualitative data, there will be a concluding discussion on the overall relationship of COVID-19 and the media, and a discussion of implications from my findings. vi Table of Contents Dedication ......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... iv Abstract of Thesis ..............................................................................................................v List of Figures ................................................................................................................. viii List of Tables ................................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: Literature Review ..............................................................................................4 Chapter 3: Methods ...........................................................................................................32 Chapter 4: Results .............................................................................................................38 Chapter 5: Conclusion .......................................................................................................46 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................48 Appendices ................................................................................................................................................. 52 vii List of Figures 1 United State’s Household Pulse Survey ..........................................................................3 2 Internet Use across the Globe .........................................................................................23 3 Social Media Use across the Globe ................................................................................23 4 Estimated U.S. Social Media Usage Increase .................................................................25 5 Social Media Use Spikes During Pandemic ...................................................................25 6 Fact-Checking Correcting COVID-19 Falsehoods .........................................................27 7 Reconfigured versus Fabrication Misinformation during COVID-19 ............................29 8 America’s Views of the News Media during the Outbreak ............................................30 viii List of Tables 1 Statistics of COVID-19 Tweets ......................................................................................15 2 Is the Media Creating Division on COVID-19 Health Practices? ..................................28 ix Chapter 1: Introduction There are, unfortunately, many more levels to the impact of COVID-19 besides the numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths in relation to the cruel disease. Within the data in the graph below distributed by The National Center for Health Statistics, The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, or the CDC, wants us, the American public, to ask ourselves, “How many people are struggling under the stresses of the pandemic? Is mental health suffering as Americans try to manage isolation, worries about jobs, and a constant stream of anxiety-producing headlines? Are they putting their future health at risk by delaying trips to the doctor or avoiding the emergency room when needed?”1 This paper will discuss how those ‘anxiety-producing headlines’ the CDC mentions, and media coverage in general, is contributing to more confusion and more hysteria during this time. Areeb Mian and Shujhat Khan argue in “Coronavirus: the spread of misinformation” that “in the face of a pandemic, it is important for governments to be transparent, and relay clear, honest information to the public. Public confusion leaves citizens unprepared for combatting a public health crisis. Additionally, it is dangerous for politicians to politicize this pandemic. At times like this, the message from government leaders needs to be consistent so that the public can regain trust in civil servants.”2 This is a powerful way to begin an essay, for the government needs to be consistent during this time to gain trust from the public, and to reassure or educate the public in terms of what is currently happening out in their communities. The quotation provided by Mian and Khan serves as the essence of my thesis, for I argue that the spread of misinformation, or 1 COVID-19 Coding and Reporting Guidance - National Vital Statistics System. (2020, July 24). 2 Mian, A., & Khan, S. (2020). Coronavirus: the spread of misinformation. 1 even disinformation, is undeniable at any given time, but it is truly dangerous to the American public right now, especially during a pandemic. Joshua Aston, Xinyi Liu and Tianyu Ying of Anatolia: An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research provide the background that the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China sparked a global pandemic, which the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern on the 31st of January 2020. As a result, this crisis has attracted intense media attention. Why is that, besides the pandemic serving as a healthcare and economic disaster? The background here is important, for since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, some media outlets inappropriately labeled the coronavirus by race, using such headlines as “Chinese virus pandemonium,” and implying that “China kids should stay home.”3 The biased, racist, misleading, and hurtful media coverage inspired anger throughout the Chinese community, and it has even placed undue stress
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