1Associate Professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh
2Project Coordinator, Center for Participatory Research and Development (CPRD), Dhaka, Bangladesh
3Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Bangladesh
4Graduate Student, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh
5Post-graduate Student, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente, The Netherlands
6Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, Premier University, Chittagong, Bangladesh
7Post-graduate Student, Department of Population Science, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
8Graduate Student, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh
9Associate Professor, School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, University of Nottingham, Malaysia
10Professor, Department of Communication and Journalism, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh
11Professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh
*Corresponding author email id: paul.alak@cu.ac.bd
Online published on 27 October, 2022.
This study aims to identify the different news content of COVID-19 coverage in the major national dailies of Bangladesh during the pre-lockdown to the end of the lockdown period. Along with quantifying the total COVID-19 coverage in newspapers, it has compared the prominence given to COVID-19 news coverage in different pages of the newspapers studied. By following content analysis, descriptive statistics has been used in this study for discussion and presentation. The study revealed that the news coverage started to grow with the announcement of the pandemic and declined gradually after the end of the lockdown in Bangladesh. The result also ascertains that COVID-19 related news was featured on different pages during the first five-months between January and May, and the percentage of news coverage of COVID-19 was at its highest level from 1 to 15 May. The study shows that COVID-19 related prevention, impacts, mitigation, preparedness, and world concern were the major themes in the newspapers. Many new terms like ‘quarantine’, ‘social distancing’, ‘lockdown’, etc., were presented frequently on different pages as news items. This study clearly states that a good number of photos and commercials have been published from March to May. Similarly, most of the editorials, commentaries and interviews were published on government preparedness and effects of coronavirus on an individual level. Finally, our study concludes that the interventions of the print media contribute highly in minimising the adverse effects of the COVID19 crisis and recommends that policy makers can make immediate decisions on the existing gaps of health care emergencies through the content analysis of published news on the pandemic.
Media coverage, COVID-19, Content analysis, Newspapers, Bangladesh
