The corona chronicles: Framing analysis of online news headlines of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, USA and South Africa

Background: The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, now in its second year, has resulted in a large corpus of literature in a number of disciplines, particularly virology and epidemiology. In contrast, scholarly inquiry in other areas of the health sciences, particularly in media representations and public health communication, is still emerging. Aim: As an integral stakeholder in communication during a pandemic, this descriptive study sought to delineate the media frames of the COVID-19 pandemic in online news headlines in the first month that the COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Setting: Online news headlines in three global hotspots, namely Italy, the USA and South Africa, during the month of March 2020, were analysed. Methods: Thematic content analysis and epidemic framing typology. Results: The findings indicate that COVID-19 has been internationally portrayed as a lethal pandemic that destroys and disrupts human life. Discursive frames of consequences monopolised its coverage, whilst discursive frames of reassurance were rare, despite the high survival rate. One of the unique findings of this study is that the COVID-19 pandemic coverage included the naming of positive patients, who were thereby made known to the public. Conclusion: Internationally, COVID-19 pandemic coverage used consequence frames that dramatized loss of life instead of deploying frames of reassurance that foreground the high survival rate of this disease. Contribution: Results of the study may help inform public health communication of the COVID-19 pandemic, by offering a detailed description of the frames that journalists use in news headlines, all of which possibly influence public perception of the pandemic. Theoretically, the article has also contributed to the application of epidemic framing typology and has contributed to knowledge in the field of public health communication and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exposure to mass media malaria messages and use of insecticide-treated nets and artemisinin combination therapy among Southeast Nigeria residents

Background: Malaria remains endemic in Nigeria. The National Malaria Elimination Programmeutilizes the mass media to educate Nigerians to adopt insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and Artemisinin Combination Therapy (ACT) for malaria prevention and treatment respectively. This study investigated the influence of media messages on ITN and ACT use in Southeast Nigeria. Methods: Data was collected with a structured questionnaire from 480 respondents across 15 communities in Southeast Nigeria. Analysis was carried out on the data using percentages and logistic regression. Results: Results indicated high exposure to malaria messages, but limited effect on ITN and ACT use. Regression results showed that exposure to newspapers (OR=1.017); magazines (OR=1.639) and internet (OR=1.444) increased the odds of ITN use. Exposure to television messages(OR=1.707;P<0.001);billboards(OR=2.098;P<0.011);Internet(OR=1.805;P<0.011) and tertiary education(OR=8.454;p<0.000) positively predicted ACT use. Conclusions: Exposure to malaria messages has not resulted in population-wide adoption of ITNs and ACT. There is need for the National Malaria Elimination Programme to address factors that hinder ITN and ACT use

Mass media awareness campaign and the prevention of the spread of Lassa fever in the rural communities of Ebonyi State, Nigeria: Impact evaluation

This paper investigates the impact of media campaign on the prevention and spread of Lassa fever in Ebonyi state. 354 respondents were randomly selected from six rural communities in the state as study sample, while structured questionnaires were used for collecting data. SPSS version 20.0 was used to analyze the data. Results of analysis reveal that the media campaign has rural reach but has little or no impact. The results also reveal that the campaign failed to create appropriate awareness of the disease, its preventive/curative health behaviors. It further reveals that there are no health behavior modifications among the people because of the campaign. Therefore, this paper recommends the modification of media contents to incorporate the required preventive/curative health behaviors. Secondly, mandatory mass media awareness campaign and jingles in every news hour is recommend

Family planning, abortion, and HIV in ghanaian print media: a 15-month content analysis of a national ghanaian newspaper

This study assessed coverage of Reproductive Health (RH) issues­family planning (FP), abortion, and HIV­in the Ghanaian Daily Graphic newspaper. Using the composite week sampling technique, the researcher analyzed the contents of 62 editions of the paper. Prominence was measured using various attributes, and differences in mean coverage over time were assessed using analysis of variance. This review shows that coverage of RH issues was extraordinarily poor, less than 1 percent each for FP, abortion, and HIV. RH news that was covered was given little prominence. These findings support the popular impression that the Daily Graphic does not give priority to reproductive health issues in its coverage. RH advocates need to develop innovative means of integrating RH content into existing media outlets. (Afr J Reprod Health 2010; 14[4]: 83-89)