Media coverage of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) in Kenya and Tanzania: Content analysis of newspaper articles in East Africa

Abstract

This study uses the framing theory to analyse dimensions being conveyed in the coverage of COVID-19 in Kenya and Tanzania between February 2020 and April 2020. A quantitative analysis of the Daily Nation and Citizen newspapers showed different patterns of framing of the virus. Specifically, this analysis focuses on multiple frames used by the two newspapers with respect to the following topical categories: context, basic information, preventive information, treatment information, medical research, Social context, Economic context, Political context, personal stories and other. Although the Daily Nation published more stories than the Citizen Newspaper, only the frame personal stories were significantly higher in the Daily Nation compared to Citizen Newspapers.

COVID-19 vaccination willingness in peri-urban Tanzanian communities: Towards contextualising and moving beyond the individual perspective

“…As such, in a world where getting vaccinated (against COVID-19) has to some extent also become a political decision and an ideological statement, taking into account the broader context of vaccination is crucial (Bolsen & Palm, 2022;Singh & Banga, 2022). Even more so in Tanzania, where due to the specific context, the COVID-debate is highly intertwined with politics, where conspiracy theories were actively promoted through several media, and where vaccination is linked to debates about (neo)coloniality and global power issues (Makoni, 2021;Mwangale Kiptinness and Okoye, 2021). Therefore, while also building heavily on 'classic' explanatory factors as put forward by the HBM, TPB, and 5C models, we align ourselves with the SAGE WG call for increased contextualisation in three different ways.…”

COVID-19 coverage from six network and cable news sources in the United States: Representation of misinformation, correction, and portrayals of severity

“…Chen et al, 2022; Gupta et al, 2022) and comparing across different countries (e.g. Mwangale Kiptinness et al, 2021; Mach et al, 2021; Ng and Tan, 2021; Wirz et al, 2021) is expansive. Much of this literature analyzes newspaper and online news coverage of the issue (e.g.…”

Framing of COVID-19 News in Font-Page Headlines of Standard (Hardcore) Swahili Newspapers in Tanzania

“…The COVID-19 pandemic had been a burning issue in Tanzania owing to complaints from the global organizations like WHO, claims by the President John Magufuli upon the disease, medication and vaccination, and the rise and fall of the facts and figures about the cases in the country. I have surveyed four publications about the pandemic in Tanzania (Bashizi et al 2021;Gruenbaum 2021;Kiptinness, Okoye 2021;Mumbu, Hugo 2020). In this section, I outline several lines that attracted the attention of the public about COVID-19 in Tanzania.…”

“…While "officially, the confirmed cases counted a cumulative total of 509, with recovered patients 183 and 21 deaths" (Mumbu, Hugo 2020, 750), the Government of Tanzania remained reluctant in implementation of the WHO protocols on COVID-19. As a result, Tanzania is criticized of evading COVID-19 protocols in the second half of 2020 and first quarter of 2021 (Bashizi et al 2021;Gruenbaum 2020;Kiptinness, Okoye 2021).…”

“…The aim of this paper is to address issues related to the choices and targets of journalists in their representation of information to the public through selected stylistic devices. The contribution of the paper lies on the utility of an eclectic Content analysis of articles in English newspapers called "Daily Nation" (published and circulated in Kenya) and "The Citizen" (published and circulated in Tanzania) revealed upraising of the coverage of COVID-19 in both countries as from February to April 2020 (Kiptinness, Okoye 2021). I want to compare their findings which were gathered from online platforms to my findings which were gathered from physical publication of the newspapers owing to two reasons.…”