Table of contents
- Report 1: The shape of the coronavirus news story
- Learning resources for Report 1
- Report 2: Visual messaging of the coronavirus news story
- Learning resources for Report 2
- Additional assets from the reports
- Covid-19 misinformation resources
- Methods
- About the series
- Press release
- Read Usable Knowledge‘s article
Note: This series is best viewed in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.
Abstract
This two-part series is about the shape and flow of U.S. media coverage about Covid-19, and its visual representation across time and digital space during the early months of 2020. Included in Report 1 are interactive data visualizations showing the results of a computational analysis of 125,696 news articles from 66 widely-read national, metropolitan, and digital-only news websites. A follow-up analysis identifies the top 12 news outlets producing the most coverage (N=74,737) of Covid-19. Findings indicated the U.S. coronavirus news story gained momentum in three distinct waves of coverage that culminated in a news tsunami in mid-March that spread through every news section from business and politics to health and sports. Certain stories were amplified and re-circulated across news sites and on social media, thus creating a network of diverse contributors to this vast news ecosystem. In Report 2, a content analysis of 532 randomly selected news images from the top 12 outlets examined the visual representation of the coronavirus story. Five dominant visual themes – fear, hope, loneliness, determination, and grief – emerged from the sample of news images analyzed. Together, this series illustrates how the coronavirus story developed and spread, and how news is experienced in the 21st century, even as mass layoffs, mergers, and closures challenge the news industry. Applying a critical lens to how the news constructs our understanding of events develops information agency and makes individuals more discerning news consumers. Teaching and learning resources for librarians, educators, students, and journalists that make use of interactive news datasets and information visualizations from the series are included for building students’ news and visual literacy skills.
Preferred citation format: Alison J. Head, Steven Braun, Margy MacMillan, Jessica Yurkofsky, and Alaina C. Bull, September 15, 2020, Covid-19: The first 100 days of U.S. news coverage: Lessons about the media ecosystem for librarians, educators, students, and journalists, Project Information Literacy Research Institute, https://projectinfolit.org/publications/covid-19-the-first-100-days/
Media coverage
- “Project Info Lit’s ‘Covid-19: The first 100 days of U.S. news coverage,’ interview with Alison Head,” Librarian’s Guide to Teaching Podcast, two-part interview, Episode 28, Part 1, November 3, 2020 (35:53) and Episode 29, Part 2, November 10, 2020.
- Emily Boudreau, “The shape of news: How educators can use new coverage as a tool to foster critical thinking skills,” Usable Knowledge, October 28, 2020.
- Barbara Fister review, barbarafister.net, September 15, 20
Related PIL resources
“Howie Schneider: Navigating the rising tide of news,” email interview by Alison J. Head, Project Information Literacy, Smart Talk Interview, no. 15, June 4, 2013.
The Covid Series has a Creative Commons (CC) license of “CC BY-NCSA 4.0.” This license allows others to share, copy, adapt, and build upon the survey data non-commercially, as long as the source — Project Information Literacy — is credited and users license their new creations under the identical terms.