The Media’s Role During COVID-19 Balancing the public’s need for critical information with business interests can be tricky During a global pandemic, sources of information about risk factors and the latest recommendations from public officials for slowing the spread of the disease are critical. Amid any outbreak, whether it is COVID-19, SARS, or Ebola, the media plays a key role as an agenda-setter - by distilling complex data into easily digestible and useful information. However, COVID19 has shined a spotlight on several challenges faced by the media as the public looks to it to function as a public-health educator. The first involves balancing the public’s right to critical and timely health information with the media industry’s own business objectives. Some news outlets, including major publications like The New York Times and The Financial Times, have granted free access to coronavirus-related news without the need for a subscription. Others, such as The Boston Globe, have come under fire for maintaining their paywall policy even for articles about the pandemic. Restrictions placed on the right to information potentially penalize the poor - who may not be able to get the most accurate health-related news and information, thereby making them more susceptible to misinformation.
Related insight areas: Human Rights, Corporate Governance, Values, Global Governance, Behavioural Sciences, Future of Media, Entertainment and Sport, Global Health, Internet Governance, Arts and Culture, Inclusive Design
Another big challenge facing media outlets as they cover COVID-19 is the fact that they are constantly exposing people to sometimes questionable (or inaccurate) views and information - often referred to as the “infodemic.” Concerns have also been raised about mental health as people steadily consume negative, pandemic-related news while making disruptive lifestyle adjustments - like working from home or on the frontlines, and limiting social interaction with friends and loved ones. One survey in China conducted relatively early in the pandemic found that social media exposure was associated with depression and anxiety, and the irresponsible airing of problematic views has been blamed for fueling racist assaults on people of Asian origin for their association with a “Chinese” disease. Perhaps the most difficult challenge facing the media is the need to communicate in a way that restores faith in scientific institutions, amid a constant barrage of misinformation related to everything from the concept that exposure to sunlight or cleaning products can prevent COVID-19, to the notion that it does not affect young people. Disseminating such ideas can severely undermine official public health recommendations, and put the public at greater risk. - This key issue is curated in partnership with Dr. Edmund W.J. Lee, Public Health Communications Scientist and Research Fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
8 COVID-19 Briefing, March 2021