Abstract
With the ever-evolving COVID-19 pandemic, there is a greater need for the public to keep abreast of the news around the novel virus. However, surveys show that there is an increasing proportion of the public that actively avoid news about the pandemic. This chapter elucidates the reasons behind why people avoid COVID-19 news by examining how the current media landscape (both traditional and new media) contributes to COVID-related news avoidance. It argues that psychological processes, affective responses, and political identity can make communicating COVID information through news media an arduous task. This chapter also provides recommendations on how to overcome tendencies to avoid COVID news and motivate individuals to attend to, select, and process this information, through the use of different emotional appeals and news media literacy education.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
