Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

News Media Trust And Mistrust During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Kaitlyn Seiter

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the uncertainty and growing information surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, news media consumption has increased drastically compared to pre-pandemic consumption. At the start of the pandemic, 94% of Americans reported closely following COVID-19 news, with more than half of Americans spending more than two hours consuming COVID-19 news everyday (SSRS, 2020). With the news media serving as a critical source of information through this public health crisis, the public’s reactions, behaviors, and attitudes to the pandemic stem from the level of trust they have in the news media to share COVID-19 information. Because of this, this study examines trust in …

Examining Public Health Risk Communication Via Social Media By Provincial And Local Health Authorities In Ontario During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Marc Resendes

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Risk communication campaigns are essential during public health crises to inform the public about ways to mitigate, alleviate and manage potential risks. The purpose of this study was to describe risk communication on social media by Ontarian health authorities amid COVID-19, in addition to examining the strategies that guided their social media use. This was completed through (a) a narrative review of risk communication literature; (b) a qualitative content analysis of select health authority Twitter messaging following three major COVID-19 milestones; and (c) key informant interviews with those coordinating social media responses to COVID-19. Information giving and news updates were …

Public Health Agencies Outreach Through Instagram During Covid-19 Pandemic: Crisis And Emergency Risk Communication Perspective, Aqdas Malik, Laeeq M. Khan, Anabel Quan-Haase

FIMS Publications

Background: Governmental and non-governmental institutions increasingly use social media as a strategic tool for public outreach. Global spread, promptness, and dialogic potentials make these platforms ideal for public health monitoring and emergency communication in crises such as COVID-19.

Objective: Drawing on the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication framework, we sought to examine how leading health organizations use Instagram for communicating and engaging during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We manually retrieved Instagram posts together with relevant metadata of four health organizations (WHO, CDC, IFRC, and NHS) shared between January 1, 2020, and April 30, 2020. Two coders manually coded the analytical …

A Content Analysis Of The Coverage Of Covid-19 In The First Seven Days, Chrystal Celestine Kerubo Onkeo Ms

Theses & Dissertations

This study explored how the Kenyan print media covered Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the first seven days after the first infection was confirmed in Kenya. The was guided by the following research objectives: - (i) To find out the prominence the Kenyan media gave COVID-19 stories in the first seven days following the announcement of patient zero, (ii)To identify the frames that were predominantly used by the media in the coverage of COVID-19 following the announcement of patient zero, and (iii)To examine the extent to which COVID-19 stories published in the first seven days following the announcement of patient …

Place Of Solutions Journalism In Coverage Of A Crisis: Examining Reporting Of Covid-19 Pandemic In Kenyan Newspapers, Rebecca Mutheu Mutiso Ms

Theses & Dissertations

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in Kenya in March 2020 created an unprecedented challenge to media houses. Media coverage of the disease raised questions on the best approach that can be used for reporting the Covid-19 crisis and whether journalists should only report the reality of the social and economic impact of the pandemic or they have a duty to also tell stories on the responses to the crisis, an approach referred to as solutions journalism. The study’s objectives were: - (i) examine the major themes in the coverage of Covid-19 pandemic in Kenya’s media, (ii) to explore the …

Coming Together While Standing Apart Encouraging Community Ownership During The Isolating Days Of A Pandemic, Cora Scott

eJournal of Public Affairs

Because of the pandemic, the future feels difficult and uncertain, and few of us have much control over it, beyond doing our best to keep ourselves informed and those around us safe. The result is a lot of unhappy people. Gallup survey data show that pessimism about the future of the pandemic in the U.S. is rising. This is infecting our general outlook. This article explains on how one local government and health department successfully communicated during the pandemic and even increased community engagement. This was done through encouraging a sense of community ownership.

Twentieth Century Pandemic Narratives And Mental Health Discourse, Kristy R. Barraza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper utilizes René Girard’s theories concerning plague literature to examine twentieth century pandemic novels’ engagement with mental health discourses surrounding anxiety and melancholia. Girard argues that plague literature consists of four main elements: contamination, dissipation of differences, doubles, and sacrifice; he also argues that the plague represents violence. In 1918, a plague of influenza killed more people in the United States than all the wars from the twentieth century combined. William Maxwell’s They Came Like Swallows and Katherine Anne Porter’s Pale Horse, Pale Rider depict the trauma caused by the 1918 pandemic; Maxwell shows how the 1918 influenza disrupted …

Social Media Self-Regulation And The Rise Of Vaccine Misinformation, Ana Santos Rutschman

All Faculty Scholarship

This essay examines the main characteristics and shortcomings of mainstream social media responses to vaccine misinformation and disinformation. Parts I and II contextualize the recent expansion of vaccine information and disinformation in the online environment. Part III provides a survey and taxonomy of ongoing responses to vaccine misinformation adopted by mainstream social media. It further notes the limitations of current self-regulatory modes and illustrates these limitations by presenting a short case study on Facebook—the largest social media vehicle for vaccine-specific misinformation, currently estimated to harbor approximately half of the social media accounts linked to vaccine misinformation. Part IV examines potential …