A content analysis of newspaper coverage of COVID-19 pandemic for developing a pandemic management framework

The emergence of COVID-19 pandemic has not only shaken the global health sector, but also almost every other sector, including economic and education sectors. Newspapers are performing a significant role by featuring the news of COVID-19 from its very onset. The temporal fluctuation of COVID-19 rela...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Heliyon 2021-03, Vol.7 (3), p.e06544-e06544, Article e06544
Main Authors: Zafri, Niaz Mahmud, Afroj, Sadia, Nafi, Imtiaz Mahmud, Hasan, Md. Musleh Uddin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
automation
Bangladesh
biological hazards
Content analysis
COVID-19
COVID-19 infection
education
health services
lifestyle
Newspaper coverage
pandemic
Pandemic management framework
temporal variation
Topic modeling
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Summary:The emergence of COVID-19 pandemic has not only shaken the global health sector, but also almost every other sector, including economic and education sectors. Newspapers are performing a significant role by featuring the news of COVID-19 from its very onset. The temporal fluctuation of COVID-19 related key themes presented in newspaper articles and the findings obtained from them could offer an effective lesson in dealing with future epidemics and pandemics. This paper intends to develop a pandemic management framework through an automated content analysis of local newspaper coverage of COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. To fulfill the aim, 7,209 newspaper articles are assembled and analyzed from three popular local newspapers named “bdnews24.com”, “New Age”, and “Prothom Alo English” over the period from January 1, 2020 to October 31, 2020. Twelve key topics are identified: origin and outbreak of COVID-19, response of healthcare system, impact on economy, impact on lifestyle, government assistance to the crisis, regular updates, expert opinions, pharmaceutical measures, non-pharmaceutical measures, updates on vaccines, testing facilities, and local unusual activities within the system. Based on the identified topics, their timeline of discussion, and information flow in each topic, a four-stage pandemic management framework is developed for epidemic and pandemic management in future. The stages are preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. This research would provide insights into stage-wise response to any biological hazard and contribute ideas to endure future outbreaks. COVID-19; Newspaper coverage; Content analysis; Topic modeling; Pandemic management framework
ISSN:2405-8440
2405-8440
DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06544