The Framing of COVID-19 in Italian Media and Its Relationship with Community Mobility: A Mixed-Method Approach.
J Health Commun
; 26(3): 161-173, 2021 03 04.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1160382
ABSTRACT
Media framing of epidemics was found to influence public perceptions and behaviors in experiments, yet no research has been conducted on real-world behaviors during public health crises. We examined the relationship between Italian news media coverage of COVID-19 and compliance with stay-at-home orders, which could impact the spread of epidemics. We used a computational method for framing analysis (ANTMN) and combined it with Google's Community Mobility data. A time-series analysis using vector autoregressive models showed that the Italian media used media frames that were largely congruent with ones used by journalists in other countries A scientific frame focusing on symptoms and health effects, a containment frame focusing on attempts to ameliorate risks, and a social frame, focusing on political and social impact. The prominence of different media frames over time was associated with changes in Italians' mobility patterns. Specifically, we found that the social frame was associated with increased mobility, whereas the containment frame was associated with decreased mobility. The results demonstrate that the ways the news media discuss epidemics can influence changes in community mobility, above and beyond the effect of the number of deaths per day.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Community Participation
/
Health Communication
/
Epidemics
/
COVID-19
/
Mass Media
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
J Health Commun
Journal subject:
Public Health
/
Health Services
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
10810730.2021.1899344
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