Newspapers’ coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic in Eswatini: from distanciated re/presentations to socio-health panics

This paper examines the coverage and re/presentation of the coronavirus pandemic by two mainstream newspapers in the Kingdom of Eswatini, namely, the Times of Eswatini and the Eswatini Observer between January and June 2020. Framing and discourse analyses are used in the examination of news stories. The key to this study is how the coverage and re/presentation evolved as ‘new facts’ about the virus emerged. From being re/presented in a distanciated form to becoming a localised scare, the travelling of the virus in space and time and its profile in the newspapers are examined. When the virus began to enjoy widespread coverage, news stories focused on virus incidence and later started paying attention to the internal evolution of the virus and how the government was responding to it. The analysis shows that political indexing sustained the coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to political and official indexing, media coverage largely reproduced the views of those in power, especially the construction of lockdown regulations as rational and legitimate. The government and security officials characterised the coronavirus as an invading enemy that could only be defeated through ‘war’. The news media reproduced the war language of the government and security officials, and thus legitimised the lockdowns and security surveillance. In addition to regulatory interventions, the results reveal that the government and civil society initiated prayer and fasting sessions as part of response interventions. This paper concludes that health journalism pays less attention to health scares that are seen to be happening ‘elsewhere’. However, once the problems become local, the news value of proximity enables journalists to provide extensive coverage. In addition, the coverage of pandemics begins with increased coverage and panic, followed by constant attention and after some time, the stories leave front pages as journalism fatigue kicks in.

Aspects of Communication Behavior: Medical Institutions and Public Interest

Not a single organization is immune to crisis. Negligent handling of regulations and standards, misprotection of personal information, mistakes in care and treatment, financial resources frauds, non-compliance with operational and technical processes, or hygiene scandals are just some of the issues that can turn into a crisis. In addition to the universal risks, the emotionally charged topic of healthcare, combined with the importance of healthcare facilities as trustworthy institutions, turns hospital mistakes into events of high news value. This article provides tips and ideas for developing practical communication activities in times of crisis, including answers to the question of what a medical institution can do to be better prepared when a crisis occurs and how to reduce physical, psychological, and emotional stress on the staff and patients.

The practice of McJournalism in Indonesia’s Cyber Media

This study aims to reveal the application of the principles of McJournalism by cyber media in Indonesia. This research has a subjective approach with a constructivist paradigm and uses descriptive qualitative methods. The theory used is McJournalism, which is based on George Ritzer's McDonaldization theory. The sample for this research is Tribunnews.com, an Indonesian cyber media that has the largest network in Indonesia. Data collection was carried out through semi-structured interviews with ten informants, and content analysis of the news published on the website www.Tribunnews.com from December 2020 to January 2021. The implementation of the principle of efficiency was carried out in seven forms. First, the headline uses clickbait. Second, the headline is bombastic, provocative, and lengthy. Third, there are interesting photos in each story. Fourth, one paragraph contains one sentence and the distance between the paragraphs is tenuous. Fifth, the news is distributed through social media by network members. The principle of calculation is carried out by producing as much news as possible. In one day 700 to 1000 news stories are produced, which have high human interest news value and the ability to be shared on social media. The implementation of the predictability principle is carried out by giving a uniformed website appearance and format. The principle of control is applied by utilising communication technology such as smartphones, search engines, and social media analytics programme in the process of journalistic work. Keywords: Clickbait, journalist, McDonaldization, McJournalism, multitasking.

Covid-19 and journalism conundrums: a study on dilemmas in content selection

The study examined journalism practices covering Coronavirus disease (Covid-19), particularly online journalism in Solo, one of the metropolitan cities in Central Java Province of Indonesia. Solo is the first city in Indonesia to declare an extraordinary event due to the Covid-19 pandemic after coronavirus-linked deaths were reported. The notion of a dilemmatic situation, mainly in content selection, is the central perspective in this research. This research referred to news value theory and agenda-setting that used a qualitative approach method. The data were obtained through interviews with 20 journalists of online media in Solo. We also included non-participatory observation in the Solopos.com newsroom. The study suggests that, to some extent, journalists face a dilemma in choosing content to present news that concerns the public interest during the Covid-19 pandemic. The dilemma included determining interesting issues, attracting the public interest, and becoming meaningful to the readers, but not to endanger the personal safety and maintain professional sustainability because there is no news worthy of a life.

Looking over the channel: The balance of media coverage about the “refugee crisis” in Germany and the UK

This study compares the balance of newspaper and television news coverage about migration in two countries that were differently affected by the so-called “refugee crisis” in 2015 in terms of the geopolitical involvement and numbers of migrants being admitted. Based on a broad consensus among political elites, Germany left its borders open and received about one million migrants mainly from Syria during 2015. In contrast, the conservative British government was heavily attacked by oppositional parties for closing Britain’s borders and, thus, restricting immigration. These different initial situations led to remarkable differences between the news coverage in both countries. In line with news value theory, German media outlets reported much more on migration than did their British counterparts. In line with indexing theory, German news coverage consonantly reflected the consensual view of German political elites, while British news media reported along their general editorial lines.