Media in a time of crisis: Newspaper coverage of Covid-19 in East Asia

Abstract

How have newspapers covered Covid-19 in Asia? To answer this question, I studied East Asian English-language newspapers published between January and July 2020. First, I measured the level of news media attention on Covid-19 among all reports. Second, I analyzed the tone and content of 330 editorials. I divided the analysis into two time periods: the initial crisis breakout period, when the number of infections was rising or high, and the crisis abatement period, when new infections declined to manageable levels. Findings show that although newspapers were slow to begin addressing the pandemic, their early editorials carried an alarming tone, which continued even after new infections dropped to low levels. This surprising level of concern continued because the topics shifted from health concerns to more ideological goals. Chinese and Taiwanese editors politicized the pandemic, using it as a wedge issue to attack international adversaries. Meanwhile, Korean editors used the economic fallout of the pandemic to press the government for pro-business economic reforms. In contrast, editors in Hong Kong exhibited cautious neutrality, largely avoiding politicization of the pandemic. These patterns of editorial coverage reveal the partizan nature of the press in East Asia, as well as salient political and economic undercurrents.