Inequality in times of pandemicsHow online media are starting to treat the economic consequences of the coronavirus crisis

  1. Javier Odriozola-Chéné 1
  2. Javier Díaz-Noci 2
  3. Ana Serrano-Tellería 3
  4. Rosa Pérez-Arozamena 1
  5. Laura Pérez-Altable 4
  6. Juan Linares-Lanzman 5
  7. Lucía García-Carretero
  8. Luis-Mauricio Calvo-Rubio 3
  9. Manuel Torres-Mendoza 6
  10. Adolfo Antón-Bravo 7
  1. 1 Universidad Europea del Atlántico
    info

    Universidad Europea del Atlántico

    Santander, España

  2. 2 Universitat Pompeu Fabra
    info

    Universitat Pompeu Fabra

    Barcelona, España

    ROR https://ror.org/04n0g0b29

  3. 3 Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
    info

    Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha

    Ciudad Real, España

    ROR https://ror.org/05r78ng12

  4. 4 Universidad Nebrija
    info

    Universidad Nebrija

    Madrid, España

    ROR https://ror.org/03tzyrt94

  5. 5 Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
    info

    Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

    Barcelona, España

    ROR https://ror.org/01f5wp925

  6. 6 Universidad Estatal Península de Santa Elena
    info

    Universidad Estatal Península de Santa Elena

    La Libertad, Ecuador

    ROR https://ror.org/01k410495

  7. 7 Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
    info

    Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

    Madrid, España

    ROR https://ror.org/03n6nwv02

Show affiliations +
Journal:
El profesional de la información

ISSN: 1386-6710,  1699-2407

Year of publication: 2020

Issue Title: Investigación en Información y Comunicación

Volume: 29

Issue: 4

Type: Article

DOI: 10.3145/EPI.2020.JUL.03 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: El profesional de la información

Sustainable development goals

Abstract

In December 2019, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization about a new coronavirus disease that would come to be called Covid-19. The world media began reporting on this new virus and its consequences. However, reports about Covid-19 would not appear in the European and American media until their societies became aware of both the health and economic consequences of Covid-19 in March 2020. This article analyzes the online media coverage of economic inequality. The goal is to understand the formation of the public agenda, based on the impact of the disease on social classes as the main factor generating greater inequality levels, in particular inequality of opportunities as the most remarkable topic during the first stage of the pandemic. According to the first results of this content analysis, the social class divide will be deepened by the pandemic. For this study, a tool was designed to analyze both the manifest and latent content of the items. Using content analysis, an analysis of news published by 33 digital media in both Europe and Latin America from March 14 to April 14, 2020 was conducted. The results of this study show that income inequality appears as the core variable of the problem, although social classes remain important. The imbalanced access to health and education public services also receives continuous coverage in the media. However, poverty as a consequence of this situation remains an uncomfortable issue and tends to be presented in an undramatized way.

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Funding information

This paper is one of the results of the research project News, networks, and users in the hybrid media system. Transformation of media industries and the news in the post-industrial era (RTI2018-095775-B-C43) (Mineco/Feder), Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Competitiveness (2019-2021).

Funders

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