Western and Chinese media representation of Africa in COVID-19 news coverage

Gabore, Samuel Mochona

doi:10.1080/01292986.2020.1801781

Cited by 63 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…Africa's figures remained below world averages and the effects in infection and mortality remained below expectations for most of 2020 (Wadvalla 2020). Yet the effects on social livelihoods even where the incidence was negligible were alarming still (Gabore 2020).…”

Section: The Covid-19 Crisismentioning

confidence: 99%

Covid-19 and the Return of the State in Africa

Zondi

2021

Politikon

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As African countries battled the Covid-19 crisis in 2020, one of the questions that were raised was whether the state was taking a central stage in the affairs of society, especially solutions to major problems. The question was triggered by the fact that there has been a decline in the capacity, role and prestige of the state in Africa for decades. Yet it seems that the responses to Covid-19, following the WHO guidelines, have placed the state at the centre, without dislocating other stakeholders like the private sector and the civil society. This paper uses the evidence from a select number of African countries of different sizes in various regions of the continent to provide an empirical perspective on the role of the state in Covid-19 responses in 2020 to answer the question of whether Covid-19 has occasioned a return of the state, thus reversing the neoliberal designs in favour of a lean and mean state in Africa.

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Section: The Covid-19 Crisismentioning

confidence: 99%

Covid-19 and the Return of the State in Africa

Zondi

2021

Politikon

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“…Similar results should be expected when analyzing the content of Chinese media, given that scholars of Sino-African mediated exchanges have documented an expansive effort by Beijing to maximize its "discursive power" (Lee, 2016) on the continent. This should be most apparent in the coverage of COVID-19, given that Chinese media were very proactive in their messaging of China's responses to the outbreak domestically and abroad (Gabore, 2020).…”

Section: China-africa Mediated Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Precisely, because of the episodic nature of news coverage about China's engagement with Africa, the outbreak in late-2019 of COVID-19, the coronavirus disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, presents an excellent case study for a paper, like this one, aimed at measuring news coverage of a single event across multiple Sub-Saharan African countries. The COVID-19 "news event" had a global impact (including all African countries), it was prolonged in time, it included multiple sub news events, and it showcased many dimensions of China's engagement with the continent (Gabore, 2020).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Who set the narrative? Assessing the influence of Chinese global media on news coverage of COVID-19 in 30 African countries

Madrid-Morales

2021

Global Media and China

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The size of China’s State-owned media’s operations in Africa has grown significantly since the early 2000s. Previous research on the impact of increased Sino-African mediated engagements has been inconclusive. Some researchers hold that public opinion toward China in African nations has been improving because of the increased media presence. Others argue that the impact is rather limited, particularly when it comes to affecting how African media cover China-related stories. This article contributes to this debate by exploring the extent to which news media in 30 African countries relied on Chinese news sources to cover China and the COVID-19 outbreak during the first-half of 2020. By computationally analyzing a corpus of 500,000 written news stories, this paper shows that, compared to other major global players (e.g. Reuters, AFP), content distributed by Chinese media (e.g. Xinhua, China Daily) is much less likely to be used by African news organizations, both in English and French speaking countries. The analysis also reveals a gap in the prevailing themes in Chinese and African media’s coverage of the pandemic. The implications of these findings for the sub-field of Sino-African media relations, and the study of global news flows are discussed.

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“…Previous research suggested that news sources were critical in deciding the contents of messages journalists produce and present. 21 Some unofficial news outlets, including so-called “fake news,” may have also affected people’s perceptions regarding COVID-19, 1 as rumors and fake news can be considered a form of lying. As such, individuals might be compelled toward different actions (ie, risk-seeking or loss aversion) on the basis of their feelings induced by the information description frames (eg, loss frame).…”

Section: Limitations and Future Research Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…19 In the mass media, by transmitting the importance of a specific aspect of reality, framing can influence the perception of audience members. 20,21 For instance, citizens' explanations of political issues have been found to be significantly influenced by the manner in which television news presentations "frame" these issues and, as a result, affect their assessments of presidential performance. 22 Kapuściński and Richards found that people's risk perception and feelings (ie, worry) would be influenced when different frames (eg, risk amplifying description frame and risk attenuating description frame) are used to describe tourist destinations in media reports.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Which Information Frame is Best for Reporting News on the COVID-19 Pandemic? An Online Questionnaire Study in China

Kuang¹,

Xu²,

Yang³

et al. 2021

PRBM

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Introduction:The COVID-19 pandemic has received broad public attention and has been subject to social media discussion since the beginning of 2020. Previous research has demonstrated that framing could influence perception and behaviors of audience members in the mass media. The question addressed in this paper concerns which information frame is best for reporting negative news (eg, deaths) and positive news (eg, recoveries or cures) related to the outbreak of COVID-19. Methods: During the Spring Festival holidays of 2020 in China, we investigated a sample of 8170 participants' risk perceptions and emotional responses to the pandemic, and their willingness to forward updates when the information is presented in different frames by using a 2 (domain: living [good news] vs dying [bad news]) × 2 (count: absolute vs relative) × 2 (population base: excluding population base vs including population base) × 2 (content: text-only vs text-plus-graphic) mixed factorial design, with the first factor being a withinsubjects factor and the last three being between-subjects factors. Results: Results indicated that (1) participants were more willing to forward good news (eg, cures) than bad news (eg, deaths); (2) when reporting bad news, the inclusion of the "population base" was effective in minimizing negative emotions; (3) when reporting good news, excluding the "population base" was more effective than including it in order to maximize positive emotions; (4) a text-plus-graphic frame worked better than a text-only frame in lowering the level of risk perception and negative emotions. Discussion: This study is relevant to how individuals and organizations communicate information about this viral pandemic and the probable impact of this news on the general public.

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Western and Chinese media representation of Africa in COVID-19 news coverage

Cited by 63 publications

References 84 publications

Covid-19 and the Return of the State in Africa

Covid-19 and the Return of the State in Africa

Who set the narrative? Assessing the influence of Chinese global media on news coverage of COVID-19 in 30 African countries

Which Information Frame is Best for Reporting News on the COVID-19 Pandemic? An Online Questionnaire Study in China

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