User:PublicHealthPhD/New sandbox

Media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic has varied by country, time period and media outlet.

Level of coverage
Within January 2020, the first full month in which the outbreak was known, Time recorded 41,000 English-language articles containing the term "coronavirus", of which 19,000 made it to headlines. This was compared with the Kivu Ebola epidemic, which had 1,800 articles and 700 headlines in August 2018. Paul Levinson, a researcher in communications and media studies, attributed this wide disparity to backlash from perceived overcoverage of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, coupled with concerns regarding Chinese censorship of the coverage.

Recode reported on 17 March that, out of 3,000 high-traffic news sites, around 1 percent of published articles are related to the disease, but those articles generate around 13 percent of all views, with subtopics such as social distancing, flattening the curve and self-quarantine being particularly popular. The total number of article views itself was some 30 percent higher in mid-March 2020 compared to in mid-March 2019.

Dr. Sylvie Briand, Director of Global Infectious Hazards Preparedness Department of the World Health Organization, mentions in an interview several concerns related to the spread of misinformation and the resulting consequences. For example, Dr. Briand mentions the fake reports which spread across Iran indicating that ingestion of methanol could cure the COVID-19 virus, resulting in over 300 deaths. Dr. Briand also mentions actions being taken by the WHO to combat the spread of misinformation by meeting with faith-based organizations, the health care sector, World Organization of Family Doctors, the private sector, travel and tourism industry, as well as other businesses as a means of aiding in the spread of accurate information. Other large media platforms have been making a similar effort to control misinformation such as Twitter and Facebook providing links on news feeds to credible health sources such as the WHO and websites of local health authorities, and Google Scholar highlighting leading medical journals and other credible sites.

An analysis of approximately 141,000 English language news headlines related to the Coronavirus from January 15, 2020 to June 3, 2020 uncovered that 52% of headlines evoked negative sentiments while only 30% evoked positive sentiments. The authors suggest that the headlines are contributing to fear and uncertainty which is having negative health and economic outcomes.