Al Jazeera Center for Studies published a unique research report by academic Muhammad Al-Amin Musa, associate professor of media at Qatar University, entitled (Determinants of satellite news coverage of the Corona pandemic in the age of digitalisation). It presented a summary of the strategies and methods of news coverage of the Corona pandemic on some satellite news channels, researched its determinants in dealing with the crisis created by the spread of the epidemic, and studied the importance of effective health media and its role in sparing humanity the scourge of pandemics and epidemics. Waei Foundation for Research and Development provides a summary of the most prominent findings of the research report published on April 9, 2020 (It can be viewed in full from Here), which came in the midst of the pandemic, months after its outbreak as an epidemic that spread in the Chinese province of Hubei, to coincide with weeks of satellite news coverage of it during the year 2020, and at a time when the media is supposed to have played its role in educating the recipient on all health matters so that they are prepared – cognitively and skillfully – to deal with any health crisis.
The pandemic…a new challenge
The study starts from the Corona pandemic to look at how the media deals with global crises in a digital age in which knowledge flows at a pace that the world has never seen before. It notes that this crisis has revealed the holes in the body of media work, which has established priorities that place the political at the forefront of the economic, social, and health issues. She believes that the challenges faced by humanity in its sustained struggle to maintain the continuity of life, by combating diseases and avoiding epidemics and pandemics, deserve a more effective media communication effort, to avoid repeating the tragedies resulting from underestimating accumulated human knowledge, which rarely finds its way into media coverage. Through exploratory observation of the programming network of some satellite news channels, the study observed their lack of interest in programs and news that deal with human health as the basis of all activities, because the prioritization of these channels does not include health care and human education so that they maintain the blessing of health and well-being and proceed from it to achieving development and sustainable development.
The problem of the study
In this context, the study attempts to explore the determinants underlying the coverage of the Corona pandemic by satellite news channels – as they are at the forefront of widespread mass media – and the researcher noted that this coverage is dominated by the quantitative aspect and the educational approach, as if these channels are operating outside the context of this pandemic and are not affected by it, but rather are monitoring it like all the events that are at the top of the media agenda. The problem is completed by the flooding of the media scene by new media pioneers who found the web in general, and social media networks in particular, as spacious spaces for delivering communication messages related to the Corona pandemic, in which the dung is mixed with the fat, so that the matter is reflected in people’s behavior in a random manner and the circulation of unscientific knowledge that there is no room to criticize and evaluate. From among the satellite news community, the researcher chose a purposive sample that included four channels: the American CNN and Fox News; “Al Arabiya” channel, and “Sky News Arabia” channel. The choice of these channels comes because they are television news channels that have capabilities (financial and human) that allow them to broadcast on a large scale and address an audience spread throughout the world, and this is consistent with the nature of the Corona virus pandemic.
The reality of health media
Within the framework of the theoretical approach that establishes an understanding of the media’s relationship with crises and the news, educational, and persuasive roles assigned to its means to contain their effects and repercussions, the researcher noted that there is a major paradox related to crisis media in terms of theory and practice. At the theoretical level, crisis media can be defined as “the media practice inherent in creating a crisis, and aimed at preventing its completion, by disseminating media messages aimed at educating and raising awareness of its dangers and explaining scenarios that can avoid it.” While the actual practice of crisis media appears in the form of “press coverage that keeps pace with crises, their stages of development, and their effects on the targeted parties.” Crisis communication – in theory – is a sustainable preventive practice that aims to educate recipients to avoid crises through sound practices, in addition to good behavior when an out-of-control crisis occurs. While the actual crisis media – as it appears in practice and is now evident in the Corona crisis – seems more confused as it seeks to cover the crisis in order to reduce its damage and disappears with its disappearance until a new crisis occurs, and so on. Here, the crisis media crisis is embodied in dealing with crises as normal events that are covered during or after their occurrence, or as phenomena that require coverage after they form, appear, and escalate, so that the outcome is inherent in the crisis and becomes part of it. This contradicts the pioneering communicative role of the media, or at least limits it in a time when human knowledge is experiencing the predicament of chaos resulting from the ease of delivery, the mixing of true news with false news and rumours, and the mixing of real science with pseudoscience.
Remarkable shortcomings
The researcher explains this shortcoming by saying that effective health media is not merely news about pharmaceutical discoveries, successes in inventing medical devices, or qualitative advances in the field of surgery, but rather a daily, sustainable work in health awareness and education, and health education based on good food, good preservation of the environment, good rehabilitation of the body, and its use in various activities, as well as abandoning habits that are harmful to the body, soul, and society. The effectiveness of health media only requires realizing its importance and the seriousness of its absence, learning from past experiences, and understanding the economics of health, which is superior to any other economics: there is no economy when a person dies or is unable to work (and the measures taken by most countries in the world, which imposed quarantine and stopped the wheel of the economy due to the outbreak of the Corona virus, are the best example of the impact of health on the economy).
Shortcomings
The study believes that the challenges of crises and their repercussions, which may paralyze life, force traditional-renewed media to reconsider the determinants they rely on when covering these crises in order to become effective in sparing humanity the possibility of a recurrence such as the Corona pandemic crisis. Social media networks are moving toward dominating the interests of communicators in terms of publishing, receiving, and interacting. Therefore, traditional media outlets – especially satellite channels – must exploit these networks to publish professional health media content that is compatible with the communicative characteristics of these networks. All satellite channels have accounts on social media networks (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram…), but they are often used to promote the channel’s programs, rather than providing content specific to social media users. When satellite channels are forced to cover pandemics and epidemics, they must take the matter with the necessary resolve and form an effective partnership with the relevant authorities to inform people of what they need to know, away from the confusion and irresponsible and unethical publishing that may find its way onto social media networks. It must demonstrate accumulated cognitive authority that makes it qualified to provide guidance and practice persuasive communication, and not be satisfied with shedding some light on what is going on in society and being preoccupied with what is useless.
Absence of strategy
The epidemic that swept the entire world, in turn, swept the media and forced it to change its agenda when it saw how the Corona virus was inflicting losses on governments, institutions, economies and individuals. News and reports began pouring in without a sustainable communication strategy built on a deep awareness of the importance of effective health communication that prevents the spread of epidemics and the occurrence of devastating pandemics. It is extensive coverage suitable for a fleeting crisis that will soon disappear and everyone will return to their normal state. The study warned that contemporary media must take a lesson from the experience of covering the Corona virus pandemic, and reconsider their understanding and treatment of health media so that such a pandemic is not repeated in an era in which humanity claims to have taken advanced steps in growth and development, while it is difficult for it to prepare for risks that have threatened it since ancient times, and to repeat its communication mistakes. Satellite news channels and other media outlets are also called upon to invest in the field of health media, by strengthening their human resources with the best active cadres in the health and medical fields, and providing them with the necessary capabilities to provide health media that leads humanity to a future free of pandemics and epidemics through which a person reaps upon himself due to ignorance or neglect of good health behavior. The study is a realistic presentation of the Arab media’s interaction with the Corona pandemic, knowing that these forms are constantly speaking and changing, according to the changes occurring on the scene and the effects they reflect, in addition to how governments and peoples deal with them. To view the study via Link.
