How journalism is covering the COVID-19 pandemic around the world

Foto di Sandro Mahler, © Cooperazione
Foto di Sandro Mahler, © Cooperazione

Institutional Communication Service

19 May 2020

USI European Journalism Observatory (EJO) has been mapping the impact of the pandemic on journalism in various countries around the world since March with a series of articles on this issue, all available here and constantly updated. Journalist Patrick Mancini interviewed the post-doc researcher at USI Institute of Media and Journalism Philip Di Salvo in the magazine Cooperazione. Together with his colleague Antonio Nucci, he worked on the analysis of media coverage in Italy, interviewing some journalists and experts in the field.

Thanks to its international network of researchers in the media and journalism field, EJO has launched a new project that analyzes media coverage of the health emergency at international level, reaching countries with freedom of press and others where such freedom is more limited. The aim of the project is to provide useful analysis for media professionals and observers to better understand the ongoing debate in various countries. In addition, the Observatory also stresses the limitation of misinformation and the efforts made to avoid stereotyping the current crisis.

The research was triggered precisely in response to the infodemia, a term already explored by Philip Di Salvo in a previous video, which characterised these weeks and underlined the importance of having authoritative reference newspapers: "In the face of such pandemic, the risk is that certain type of journalism might lose its credibility. With my colleague Antonio Nucci we have analysed in particular the Italian press, but our colleagues from Dortmund or Oxford also gave us similar pointers. The online business logic is mainly based on clicks. So we look for titles and catchphrases that might appeal to the public, and make advertisers happy. But since advertising is decreasing, this pattern might become annoying for the reader and also not profitable for the magazine itself. More and more media, especially online, are asking for a direct contribution from readers. And the public is willing to pay if they are offered quality content," explains Cooperazione Di Salvo in the interview.

 

The complete interview is available at this link and in the attached pdf:
https://www.cooperazione.ch/incontri/2020/bombardati-dai-media-267850/

More information about the EJO project:
https://en.ejo.ch/ethics-quality/how-media-worldwide-are-covering-the-coronavirus-crisis