The Media
Within the context of American Government and
Covid-19 pandemic crisis
Political Media in America
• The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees freedom of the press.
• Most Americans believe this is essential for liberty and democracy.
• The news media’s role:
• Inform the public about current events.
• Provide a forum for politicians and the public to debate policies and issues.
• Act as a watchdog on the actions of politicians and government.
• Most media in America is driven by the profit motive.
• But many outlets also act in the public interest.
In many authoritarian countries there is no freedom of the press; China’s authoritarian
government supressed information about the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan in December
2019, leading to a greater public health crisis.
By providing a variety of perspectives and fact-checking sources the U.S. media strive to
provide unbiased coverage of current events.
The Media and the COVID-19 Crisis
1. How did the media cover the pandemic?
2. How did politicians use the media during the pandemic?
3. How did the pandemic alter the relationship between the people and the
media?
How did the media cover the pandemic?
Since March 2020, news and events related to the coronavirus and the associated economic fall-out have occurred at a
breakneck pace.
Not since a major world war has an event commanded as much public attention for an extended period (multiple months) as
the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak.
The U.S. had the most confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide, and New York City, accounting for one-third of U.S. fatalities,
became the epicenter of the global pandemic.
The media’s coverage of the pandemic highlighted its role as an informant
Leading national and state newspapers—Washington Post and the New York Times—provided free nearly real-time detailed
interactive maps and tables tracking confirmed COVID-19 cases, fatalities, testing rates per million people and more for the fifty
states, counties within states, and the nation. Millions of Americans turned to these sources daily to track the progress of the disease
both nationally and for their state and local community.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/coronavirus-us-cases-deaths/?itid=hp_hp-banner-low_web-gfx-death-tra
cker%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
The media provided state-by-state trackers of daily new cases, color coded from red for the fastest growth of new cases to white, the
slowest growth. From the height of the pandemic in late March and April, by mid-May every state had moved into the light yellow or
white stage (slow new case growth). https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html This informed the
public that the bite of the pandemic had subsided, as states began to reopen the economy.
How did the media cover the pandemic?
Profit motive and the public interest
• Paywalls require a subscription for readers to pay before reading the news. While most
media are for-profit companies, they also serve a critical public service interest and are
protected by the First Amendment.
• Despite up to a 50 percent drop in ad revenue, most national news media (with the
exception of the LA Times and the Boston Globe) have dropped their paywalls for coverage
of coronavirus related news.
• Some critics argue the news media should continue to have the paywalls to offset the lost
ad revenue, arguing other businesses would not be forced to give away their product for
free.
https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2020/removing-paywalls-on-coronavirus-coverage-is-
oble-it-also-makes-no-sense/
How did the media cover the pandemic?
Media as informant:
• Extensive tracking of coronavirus cases (informational role).
Media as public square:
• Social media revealed intense debates over stay-at-home orders, the efficacy of
governmental responses to the crisis, and economic impacts.
Media as watchdog:
• Tracked where stimulus money flowed and the economic fall-out.
• Tracked the needs and delivery of protective equipment and shortages of
critical medical supplies, including face masks and testing.
• Analyzed who was in charge of response, and who was benefitting from
government action.
Profit motive versus the public interest:
• Most outlets eliminated paywalls for COVID-19 coverage.
How did the media cover the pandemic?
Media as informant:
• Extensive tracking of coronavirus cases (informational role).
Media as public square:
• Social media revealed intense debates over stay-at-home orders, the efficacy of
governmental responses to the crisis, and economic impacts.
Media as watchdog:
• Tracked where stimulus money flowed and the economic fall-out.
• Tracked the needs and delivery of protective equipment and shortages of
critical medical supplies, including face masks and testing.
• Analyzed who was in charge of response, and who was benefitting from
government action.
Profit motive versus the public interest:
• Most outlets eliminated paywalls for COVID-19 coverage.
How did politicians use the media during the pandemic?
President Trump
• Held daily briefings with Coronavirus Task Force.
• Continued reliance on Twitter for unfiltered public outreach, defense of
crisis response, and accusation/blame of other people and countries.
Governors and local officials
• Daily briefings from NY Governor Andrew Cuomo
• Daily briefings from IA Governor Kim Reynolds
The Government and the Media
How did the pandemic alter the relationship between
the people and the media?
• Increased trust in the news media vs. made-up/fake news on social media
• Partisan divisions over trusted news sources remained.
• Continued misinformation on social media
• Increase in number of people following the news
• Young people less engaged in following pandemic news coverage
• Increased reliance on local news
Young Americans Least Likely to Follow COVID-19
News
Percentage of U.S. adults who are following news about the
coronavirus outbreak very closely
March 10-16 March 19-24
Ages Percent of US adults who Percent of US adults
are following news about who are following
the coronavirus outbreak news about the
very closely, March 10-16 coronavirus outbreak 69
66
very closely, March
19-24
63
57 All U.S. Adults 51% 54 57% 54
51 Ages 18-29 40 42
42
Ages 30-49 44 44 54
40
Ages 50-64 54 63
65 plus 66 69
All adults Ages 18-29 30-29 50-64 65+
Think About It:
The Media and the COVID-19 Crisis
• Through the crisis, do you think the media fulfilled its role as an information
source? What was given too much coverage and what information was
ignored or underplayed?
• Did social media help inform the public during the pandemic, or was it
overwhelmed by misinformation and conspiracy theories?
• Should social media companies be held accountable for the information
shown on their platforms? Should YouTube and Twitter follow Facebook’s
lead and remove or flag misinformation?
• How important was state and local news compared to national news for you?
How difficult is it to find quality information (news) about your state or local
community?
