WORLD OF MEDIA-2022. ISSUE №2
World of Media-2022. Journal of Russian Media and Journalism Studies. Issue №2.
Special Issue: Media Sustainability in the Pandemic World
The issue was published in 2022 by the Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University.
INTRODUCTION
Received: 07.05.22
Accepted: 28.05.22
ARTICLES
In this study, we examined how metaphors used in the Russian media to describe the COVID-19 virus affect the audience’s judgment about the virus and their willingness to take a vaccine. We found that the two conventional metaphors used to describe the dynamics of the spread of the coronavirus (‘wave’ and ‘flash’) have a limited impact on the audience. In particular, by conducting an online experiment (N=737), we revealed that texts in which the virus and vaccination were described metaphorically (‘a new flash of coronavirus’ / ‘vaccination could extinguish the flames of a new flash of coronavirus’; ‘a new wave of coronavirus’ / ‘vaccination could curb the onslaught of a new wave of coronavirus’) reduced fear and anxiety at the thought of the coronavirus, but this effect appears only in vaccinated participants. Metaphorical framing, while impactful at the affective level, did not affect ‘rational’ reasoning, such as estimates of the likelihood of becoming vaccinated or estimates of the number of cases in the country. Also, subjects’ responses to most of the questions correlated positively with their confidence in official information about the coronavirus. The article interprets the results in the context of current work in the field of metaphorical framing and health communication.
Key words: Metaphor, framing, metaphorical framing, COVID-19, health communication
Received: 25.04.22
Accepted: 27.05.22
During the COVID-19, mass media have played and continue to play a fundamental role in protecting individuals. However, the most important role of the media in a crisis is to involve people in this process in order to save their lives. Like in all corners of the world, mass media in Algeria have contributed and continue to contribute to give more information to prevent from COVID-19. This paper attempted to explore the role-played by the media during COVID-19 in giving sufficient details and convincing people about existing risks. The study tried to know people’s perceptions about news related to situation pandemic in Algeria. The aim of this study was also to find out communication patterns during the pandemic period. The present research adopted a quantitative approach using an electronic survey. In order to collect data, an electronic questionnaire was conducted. A total of 329 respondents from the east of Algeria have participated in this study, 65% (215) were male and 35% (114) were female. The findings showed that the majority of respondents preferred social media to get information about the epidemiological situation.
Key words: Media, risk communication, risk perception, coronavirus, COVID-19
Received: 20.01.22
Accepted: 29.04.22
The paper explores journalism pedagogy in selected Southern African journalism schools. It draws from two South African Universities: The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) Journalism Department and the School of Communication at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). From Zimbabwe, it draws on Journalism and Media Departments: The National University of Science and Technology (NUST) and Media and Society Studies at Midlands State University (MSU). The paper utilises the Domestication theory and Replacement model as theoretical paradigms to assess how the selected journalism schools reconfigured teaching and learning on their practical and theoretical subjects during the COVID-19 pandemic era. Semi-structured interviews are used with students and journalism educators to understand strategies adopted in the deployment of lectures. The study aims at understanding the teaching techniques that were adopted by journalism educators during the pandemic and how students adopted to virtual delivered education. Lastly, we solicit views from students who were already seeking or had been placed on attachment or work-related learning to establish how they readjusted, if at all. The study found that teaching practical courses was a challenge because, for example, editing suits for film and radio courses are housed on campus. For Zimbabwean universities, the challenge was that students were not given data by the University for online learning while lecturers’ data was not enough for their teaching. This is in contrary to South Africa were both lecturers and students were given data, laptops and other gadgets for online learning. Despite challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, lecturers received training on how to conduct online lessons and restructured their syllabus to ensure that it meets the demands of the ‘new normal’.
Key words: COVID-19, journalism schools, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Received: 12.02.22
Accepted: 29.05.22
The Indian Media industry was affected by the pandemic circulation, and revenue started declining. Print media organisations devised ways to cope with the financial instability by cutting down their workforce, closing down editions, merging various editions, reducing the number of pages and salary cuts of their employees. Print revenues declined by a 41% fall in advertising and a 24% fall in circulation revenues. (FICCI, 2021) The regional newspapers could recover a large part of their circulation. Print in India is thriving in Tier II & Tier III cities due to the opportunities available for literacy, economy, and population size. Diversity in India fuels the growth of traditional media. This paper seeks to analyse the Kannada Print media during the pandemic. Kannada is the official language of Karnataka, situated in the south-west part of the Indian Union. The study analyses how the Kannada Newspaper organisations operated during the pandemic. In-depth interviews with the management and the editorial team were conducted to understand their coping strategies to deal with the pandemic. The analysis points out that the print media organisation’s credibility and resilience have helped them sustain themselves in the market.
Key words: Pandemic, credibility, resilience, sustainability, print media, Kannada
Received: 13.02.22
Accepted: 27.05.22
This article represents an example of a non-Western study into the public perception of the mass media’s role during the coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh, which is of particular importance given the global environment of a high level of informational uncertainty and health risk that is equally applicable to countries around the world. Quantitative research methodology was used to gather perceptions of citizens across the country on the role and performance of the mass media’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. The responses gathered demonstrated that the pandemic generated an increased demand for news and information on the virus, which was used as a means of attempting to reduce personal risk and harm. In this time of an increased demand for information, respondents tended to perceive the information that they received from mainstream media news sources as being credible and rated media performance positively. This final observation is seemingly bucking the general global trend of decreased public trust in news media sources.
Key words: Coronavirus, infodemic, Bangladesh, mass media, journalism
Received: 13.02.22
Accepted: 27.05.22
The objective of the study was to analyze the representation and characteristics of most relevant semantic categories in COVID-related memes using semantic mapping strategies as well as to describe interconnected spheres in semantic fields and possible shifts in meanings to assess every mem of the sample. The article represents one of the stages in complex research of ethnocultural and psychological features of media content and its perception in internet memes. The perception of COVID-related internet memes by young audience in Russia and China and visual features of the content were tested at previous stages (Denissova et al., 2021; Smirnova et al., 2020; Smirnova & Denissova, 2021). The article treats internet memes as samples of creolized texts. This topic was chosen due to its key significance. The fact that internet memes are monothematic in content makes it possible to identify the differences in a number of characteristics more effectively. In this paper, we consider internet memes a specific type of messages in the network, combining short captions of different genres and semiotic nature that reveal topical issues. Thus, due to the capacity of semantic content and visual image memes obtain viral nature and great intensity of informational impact. Creolized memes were selected for the analysis, since we assumed that it is the memes of this type that fulfil such important tasks in communication process as organizing communication and exerting influence.
Key words: COVID-19, Russia, internet memes, pandemic discourse, semantic mapping, semantic shif
Received: 03.03.22
Accepted: 29.05.22
The coronavirus pandemic sparked a renewed interest in news consumption patterns. When major crises occur, people experience an increasing need for information and sense-making; given the extraordinary impact of this health crisis on people’s social and work life, relevant work support a ‘rally around the news’ effect, news fatigue and news avoidance, doomscrolling and a trend toward mainstream and trusted news outlets. This study explored how the coronavirus pandemic shaped news consumption patterns in Cyprus. The results show that news use hit record levels at the onset of the crisis, followed by corona news fatigue in the following months. Increased news consumption levels and greater engagement with the news were recorded again in the last couple of months of 2020 when the second wave of the pandemic hit Cyprus. Direct traffic to widely used and trusted sources doubled while a crisis boosting effect on mobile access to the detriment of computers was recorded.
Key words: News consumption; news use; news fatigue, news avoidance, doomscrolling, Cyprus
Received: 11.03.22
Accepted: 29.05.22
The COVID-19 pandemic concerns the rapid spread of the coronavirus disease that started in late 2019 and has gradually spread across the globe. Prior to the pandemic, Greece had already undergone a decade long financial crisis that had a great impact on the national healthcare system that had been weakened significantly. Along with the second oldest population of Europe and a big number of refugees and migrants living in concentration camps, Greece was not set to have a smooth fight. Against all odds, Greece managed to contain the spread of the virus with the rapid enforcement of a national lockdown. The international media quickly covered the handling of the outbreak from the Greek government and the Greek citizens. The depiction of Greece during the first coronavirus wave was very different to the depiction of Greece during the economic crisis. The depiction of Greece of the pandemic will be analyzed through 35 English and Spanish speaking articles that were published between April and June 2020. The head and sub-headlines of the selected articles will be analyzed and then the analysis will continue with the collection and organization of the metaphors that are used throughout the analysis. A secondary analysis focus on Greece of the past and this analysis will also be centered around the main metaphors that were used to describe Greece of the past. Lastly, the depiction of Greece of the financial crisis will be presented through a literature review. The analyses will then be compared to draw similarities and differences.
Key words: Pandemic, COVID-19, Greece, media representations, critical discourse analysis
Received: 10.03.22
Accepted: 27.05.22