Visualizing values: cultural dimensions in the visual framing of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in Brazil, Indonesia, and the U.S.

Abstract

Chapter 2: Should masks and testing be required? Should schools, businesses and churches be closed? Should travel be restricted? Should the US join the global effort to stave off COVID-19? These are but a few issues engendered by the global pandemic. No doubt they constitute the daily news fodder as people become more media dependent in times of great uncertainty. But how are debates about these topics being visually depicted? Studies have shown that visuals are easier to process and, when there is a disparity between visual and textual information, audiences tend to favor what is visually displayed rather than what is expounded in the text (Dan, 2018; Entman, Matthes, & Pellicano, 2008; Scheufele, 1999). The pandemic presents a unique opportunity to investigate the visual framing of a global health crisis. This chapter takes a close look at a few "iconic" images of Covid-19 coverage originating from different countries. The chapter applies Rodriguez and Dimitrova's (2011) four-tiered model of visual framing, which examines images at each of the following levels of analysis: visuals as denotative systems, as stylistic-semiotic systems, as connotative systems and visuals as ideological representations. The first level looks at how an image presents a specific issue, in this case COVID-19. The second level focuses on the use of photographic techniques such as close-ups or use of color. The symbolic elements are captured in the third level and include the symbolic meanings carried out by visuals. At the last level, visuals carry as ideological meaning and need to be analyzed and understood in their specific socio-political context. The analysis thus includes not only objective aspects presented in the image, but also latent content such as symbols and embedded ideologies. By analyzing the visual portrayals of the pandemic at each of the four levels, the chapter assists in efforts to decipher if and how visuals aided or impeded people's understanding of the issues involved and whether visuals influenced their acceptance of measures proposed to curb a rolling health catastrophe.