Framing Covid-19 in the South African News Media: An Analysis of 22 Months of Reporting

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although research has been done showing how health crises and pandemics are framed in the media, to date, no long-term studies on the framing of the pandemic in the South African media have been found in the literature. Prior research has shown that scientific information and the media play a key role in influencing decision-making and behavioural change and, therefore, its potential to influence the development trajectories of nation-states. This study analyses a sample of 524 newspaper articles to determine how the South African print media has framed COVID-19-related news during the first two years of the pandemic in South Africa. The results reveal that three South African newspapers framed the COVID-19 pandemic according to three dominant frames, conveying an overarching sense of alarm regarding the pandemic’s impact on society. However, it is also true that no consistent framing pattern is evident during the 22-month period. This suggests that reporting on COVID-19 in the news media was episodic, while also indicating that the South African print media prioritised market demands over society’s needs during the COVID-19 crisis.