Journalistic Role Performance in Times of COVID

Daniel C. Hallin; Claudia Mellado; Akiba Cohen; Nicolas Hubé; David Nolan; Gabriella Szabó; Yasser Abuali; Carlos Arcila; Maha Attia; Nicole Blanchett; Katherine Chen; Sergey Davydov; Mariana De Maio; Miguel Garcés; Marju Himma-Kadakas; María Luisa Humanes; Christi I-Hsuan Lin; Sophie Lecheler; Misook Lee; Mireya Márquez; Jamie Matthews; Karen McIntyre; Jad Melki; Peter Maurer; Marco Mazzoni; Jacques Mick; Kristina Milić; Dasniel Olivera; Marcela Pizzaro; Fergal Quinn; Terje Skjerdal; Agnieszka Stępińska; Sarah Van Leuven; Diana Viveros; Vinzenz Wyss; Natalia Ybáñez

doi:10.1080/1461670X.2023.2274584

Journalistic Role Performance in Times of COVID

Daniel C. Hallin^*, Claudia Mellado, Akiba Cohen, Nicolas Hubé, David Nolan, Gabriella Szabó, Yasser Abuali, Carlos Arcila, Maha Attia, Nicole Blanchett, Katherine Chen, Sergey Davydov, Mariana De Maio, Miguel Garcés, Marju Himma-Kadakas, María Luisa Humanes, Christi I-Hsuan Lin, Sophie Lecheler, Misook Lee, Mireya MárquezJamie Matthews, Karen McIntyre, Jad Melki, Peter Maurer, Marco Mazzoni, Jacques Mick, Kristina Milić, Dasniel Olivera, Marcela Pizzaro, Fergal Quinn, Terje Skjerdal, Agnieszka Stępińska, Sarah Van Leuven, Diana Viveros, Vinzenz Wyss, Natalia Ybáñez

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Communication studies

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper examines journalistic role performance in coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, based on a content analysis of newspaper, television, radio and online news in 37 countries. We test a set of hypotheses derived from two perspectives on the role of journalism in health crises. Mediatization theories assume that news media tend to sensationalize or to politicize health crises. A contrasting perspective holds that journalists shift toward more deferential and cooperative stances toward health and political authorities in a health crisis, attempting to mobilize the public to act according to the best science. Hypotheses derived from these perspectives are tested using the standard measures of journalistic roles developed by the Journalistic Role Performance Project. Results show that the deference/cooperation/consensus perspective is better supported, with media moving away from the Watchdog and Infotainment, and toward performance of the Service and Civic roles. We also explore differences in the pattern by country.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1977-1998
Number of pages	22
Journal	Journalism Studies
Volume	24
Issue number	16
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2023.2274584
State	Published - 2023

Keywords

COVID-19
Journalism
content analysis
health crisis communication
health news
journalistic roles

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10.1080/1461670X.2023.2274584

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Hallin, D. C., Mellado, C., Cohen, A., Hubé, N., Nolan, D., Szabó, G., Abuali, Y., Arcila, C., Attia, M., Blanchett, N., Chen, K., Davydov, S., De Maio, M., Garcés, M., Himma-Kadakas, M., Humanes, M. L., I-Hsuan Lin, C., Lecheler, S., Lee, M., ... Ybáñez, N. (2023). Journalistic Role Performance in Times of COVID. Journalism Studies, 24(16), 1977-1998. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2023.2274584

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title = "Journalistic Role Performance in Times of COVID",

abstract = "This paper examines journalistic role performance in coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, based on a content analysis of newspaper, television, radio and online news in 37 countries. We test a set of hypotheses derived from two perspectives on the role of journalism in health crises. Mediatization theories assume that news media tend to sensationalize or to politicize health crises. A contrasting perspective holds that journalists shift toward more deferential and cooperative stances toward health and political authorities in a health crisis, attempting to mobilize the public to act according to the best science. Hypotheses derived from these perspectives are tested using the standard measures of journalistic roles developed by the Journalistic Role Performance Project. Results show that the deference/cooperation/consensus perspective is better supported, with media moving away from the Watchdog and Infotainment, and toward performance of the Service and Civic roles. We also explore differences in the pattern by country.",

keywords = "COVID-19, Journalism, content analysis, health crisis communication, health news, journalistic roles",

author = "Hallin, {Daniel C.} and Claudia Mellado and Akiba Cohen and Nicolas Hub{\'e} and David Nolan and Gabriella Szab{\'o} and Yasser Abuali and Carlos Arcila and Maha Attia and Nicole Blanchett and Katherine Chen and Sergey Davydov and {De Maio}, Mariana and Miguel Garc{\'e}s and Marju Himma-Kadakas and Humanes, {Mar{\'i}a Luisa} and {I-Hsuan Lin}, Christi and Sophie Lecheler and Misook Lee and Mireya M{\'a}rquez and Jamie Matthews and Karen McIntyre and Jad Melki and Peter Maurer and Marco Mazzoni and Jacques Mick and Kristina Mili{\'c} and Dasniel Olivera and Marcela Pizzaro and Fergal Quinn and Terje Skjerdal and Agnieszka St{\c e}pi{\'n}ska and {Van Leuven}, Sarah and Diana Viveros and Vinzenz Wyss and Natalia Yb{\'a}{\~n}ez",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.",

year = "2023",

doi = "10.1080/1461670X.2023.2274584",

language = "אנגלית",

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Hallin, DC, Mellado, C, Cohen, A, Hubé, N, Nolan, D, Szabó, G, Abuali, Y, Arcila, C, Attia, M, Blanchett, N, Chen, K, Davydov, S, De Maio, M, Garcés, M, Himma-Kadakas, M, Humanes, ML, I-Hsuan Lin, C, Lecheler, S, Lee, M, Márquez, M, Matthews, J, McIntyre, K, Melki, J, Maurer, P, Mazzoni, M, Mick, J, Milić, K, Olivera, D, Pizzaro, M, Quinn, F, Skjerdal, T, Stępińska, A, Van Leuven, S, Viveros, D, Wyss, V & Ybáñez, N 2023, 'Journalistic Role Performance in Times of COVID', Journalism Studies, vol. 24, no. 16, pp. 1977-1998. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2023.2274584

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T1 - Journalistic Role Performance in Times of COVID

AU - Hallin, Daniel C.

AU - Mellado, Claudia

AU - Cohen, Akiba

AU - Hubé, Nicolas

AU - Nolan, David

AU - Szabó, Gabriella

AU - Abuali, Yasser

AU - Arcila, Carlos

AU - Attia, Maha

AU - Blanchett, Nicole

AU - Chen, Katherine

AU - Davydov, Sergey

AU - De Maio, Mariana

AU - Garcés, Miguel

AU - Himma-Kadakas, Marju

AU - Humanes, María Luisa

AU - I-Hsuan Lin, Christi

AU - Lecheler, Sophie

AU - Lee, Misook

AU - Márquez, Mireya

AU - Matthews, Jamie

AU - McIntyre, Karen

AU - Melki, Jad

AU - Maurer, Peter

AU - Mazzoni, Marco

AU - Mick, Jacques

AU - Milić, Kristina

AU - Olivera, Dasniel

AU - Pizzaro, Marcela

AU - Quinn, Fergal

AU - Skjerdal, Terje

AU - Stępińska, Agnieszka

AU - Van Leuven, Sarah

AU - Viveros, Diana

AU - Wyss, Vinzenz

AU - Ybáñez, Natalia

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - This paper examines journalistic role performance in coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, based on a content analysis of newspaper, television, radio and online news in 37 countries. We test a set of hypotheses derived from two perspectives on the role of journalism in health crises. Mediatization theories assume that news media tend to sensationalize or to politicize health crises. A contrasting perspective holds that journalists shift toward more deferential and cooperative stances toward health and political authorities in a health crisis, attempting to mobilize the public to act according to the best science. Hypotheses derived from these perspectives are tested using the standard measures of journalistic roles developed by the Journalistic Role Performance Project. Results show that the deference/cooperation/consensus perspective is better supported, with media moving away from the Watchdog and Infotainment, and toward performance of the Service and Civic roles. We also explore differences in the pattern by country.

AB - This paper examines journalistic role performance in coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, based on a content analysis of newspaper, television, radio and online news in 37 countries. We test a set of hypotheses derived from two perspectives on the role of journalism in health crises. Mediatization theories assume that news media tend to sensationalize or to politicize health crises. A contrasting perspective holds that journalists shift toward more deferential and cooperative stances toward health and political authorities in a health crisis, attempting to mobilize the public to act according to the best science. Hypotheses derived from these perspectives are tested using the standard measures of journalistic roles developed by the Journalistic Role Performance Project. Results show that the deference/cooperation/consensus perspective is better supported, with media moving away from the Watchdog and Infotainment, and toward performance of the Service and Civic roles. We also explore differences in the pattern by country.

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KW - Journalism

KW - content analysis

KW - health crisis communication

KW - health news

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EP - 1998

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ER -

Journalistic Role Performance in Times of COVID

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