Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly uneven impacts on sectors of society. People with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to it and so it is important to understand both the disability perspective and the role of social media. This information may help to reduce the risk from the disease. In response, this article uses thematic analysis to investigate 59 disability-related tweets from March 10 to April 4, 2020 that were retweeted at least 500 times, with a quarter of a million retweets altogether. This approach generates quick insights into widely resonating disability-related issues. The results suggest the value of Twitter for disseminating information about the risk, offers or requests for support, the ability of many people with disabilities to adjust to the changes well, and information about individuals with the disease. In addition, there was outrage at suggestions that the disease was less serious because young people without disabilities were relatively low risk, and that people with disabilities might be denied equal access to medical treatment. As one tweet pointed out, people in less vulnerable categories should not be told on Twitter or elsewhere that the disease is less relevant to them because their actions can impact others through social spreading.

Abstract

This paper analyses the news on Covid-19 and 2019-nCov in the Spanish media. This is done by using news retrieved from My news database. The analysis includes the total amount of news in Spanish media by type of media; the evolution of the publication in digital media considering various periods of time, and the volume of news in the most used Spanish digital media. The results show that digital media are the most used among other types to publish on the topic, with a significant increase since the beginning of the alarm state. In this sense, some arguments on the function and utility of this type of media during the confinement are exposed. Also, the essential role of digital media covering the population’s information needs is discussed. The digital media with the largest number publications are abc.es, 20minutos.es, and elconfidencial.com. The value of this work is that it can serve as starting point for others in order to carry out content analysis on the subject considering different channels and digital media.

Abstract

The global health crisis arising from the expansion of Covid-19 has led the WHO to coin the term infodemics to define a situation of fear and insecurity in which the dissemination of false information has become widespread. These hoaxes take advantage of this type of emotion to spread faster than the coronavirus itself, generating fear and distrust in the population. The spread of these lies, part of which circulates on social networks, is dangerous because it affects health and can make the contagion worse and cause people to die. This research aims to analyse and visualise the network created around the false news circulating on Twitter about the coronavirus pandemic using the technique of social network analysis. NodeXL Pro software has been used. Several measures of network centrality have been used to generate the network of connections between users, to represent their interaction patterns and to identify the key actors within the network. In addition, a semantic network has also been created to discover the differences in the way groups of people talk about the topic. The results show that the situation in the USA dominates the conversation, despite the fact that at that time there were hardly any cases, and Europe had become the global epicentre of the Covid-19. Despite reports of inaction by journalists and critics of the Trump government, there are several weeks in which disinformation distracts from taking more effective action and actually preventing contagion. Moreover, among the actors with the most prominent positions in the network, there is little presence of scientists and institutions that help to disprove the hoaxes and explain the hygiene measures. 

Abstract

We analyze the perceptions of Social Sciences faculty about their own information and digital competence and that of their students, as well as the changes that have occurred as a consequence of the virtualization of learning caused by the coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19). The methodology used is qualitative, being based on the application of two techniques: discussion groups carried out with experienced faculty from three Spanish universities, and interviews carried out with the same sample after the suspension of face-to-face teaching. The results show that the faculty members participating in this study have a critical vision of the information and digital competence of the student body, indicating that they lack capacity for evaluation, critical use, and communication of information despite their mastery of technological tools and extensive use of mobile devices. In addition, they doubt their own ability to train students in this competence, and attribute the difficulty in achieving and promoting such learning to various factors of the university culture: a lack of coordination among teaching staff, who are sometimes in situations of job insecurity, or the way in which the European Higher Education Area has been applied in universities. Faculty recognize the basic and transversal nature of this competence and advocate its incorporation into the real work methodology of all subjects, not in a segregated way. Finally, the effort made towards the “virtual” development of teaching as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic has been a shock for faculty, who declare a positive attitude towards reviewing their own digital-informative practices to adapt their teaching, but believe that this has hardly resulted in any improvement in the information and digital competence of their students so far.

Abstract

The first real images of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, were obtained between January 24 and March 5, 2020 using various electron microscopy techniques. However, since March 2020, it has been most common to see drawn, designed, or interpreted images in three dimensions, sometimes even representing different or directly invented viruses. This analysis studies a sample of images supposedly of SARS-CoV-2 that appeared at the beginning of this pandemic on the internet. Fake images or imaginary illustrations of the Covid-19 coronavirus predominate in all sources of information examined, except for those documented in encyclopedias or scientific articles. Rather than real images, the media have used more fake images of the coronavirus, often from repositories or paid stocks, usually freely available. When presenting SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus content, the use of fake, unrealistic, esthetically retouched illustrations is more common than actual or scientific photographs of the virus. The reference image used in the media and other information sources of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 is a retouched three-dimensional, color design image for illustration rather than an actual image. The original, real images of the coronavirus did not have the expected informative presence in an emergency situation. The use of unrealistic images of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus seems to be a manifestation of a low-intensity infodemic. However, information professionals must use rigorous images to support their information, also in the case of the Covid-19.

Abstract

Covid-19 is a phenomenon of enormous magnitude and relevance. Its impact has affected various social domains, including the media and journalism. Since the beginning of this health crisis, news has become a valuable resource for citizens. Studying the dynamics of information consumption is highly relevant both for its ability to transform the media system and for its incidence in democracy. The objective of this research is to analyse the influence of the new coronavirus on news consumption, the credibility given by citizens to the media as well as their ability to detect fake news. To answer these questions, we have conducted an exploratory and initial analysis based on the secondary data from the online surveys of the Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel in the United States, comparing data before and after the outbreak. The results confirm the impact of Covid-19 on the media system. The findings suggest the emergence of important developments such as the resurgence of the role of legacy media, especially on television, and the reconnection with news by citizens who usually remain far from the information. Therefore, the existing inequalities regarding news consumption among citizens have been reduced, in part. This generates potential benefits for democracy in terms of equality and accessibility concerning public affairs.

Abstract

The Covid-19 crisis has put to the test many social structures processes. Corporate communication and public relations are examples of these processes that face an unprecedented situation, difficult to foresee and from which lessons will have to be drawn for the future. In this article, a mixture of research and essay, we intend, based on theory, and on the experience and some studies carried out by communication professionals as well, to reflect on how the pandemic crisis of the Covid-19 affects and will condition the practice of corporate communication in general and two of its areas of specialization, internal communication and corporate social responsibility (CSR). We emphasize the importance of organizations in assuming that reputation is a risk and that this risk must be managed with public relations tactics and tools, because the pandemic crisis of the so-called coronavirus has revealed the importance for organizations and brands of managing trustworthy relationships with their publics.

Abstract

Coronavirus crisis has caused a complicated situation at a sanitary, economic and social levels, that requires of a fundamental work in communication area so that the society comprise and collaborate with the adopted measures. Through the review and synthesis of the scientific and reference literature, the present paper contrasts lessons learnt in previous public health crisis against the communication implemented from the institutional voices and from the press coverage during the first stages of the Covid-19 outbreak in Spain. This paper detects that the absence of an early announcement (or overtaking of the negative stage) and the control messages in a context of uncertainty caused a brusque transition to the following stage of the crisis, coincident with an explosion of the number of contagions, what generated fear. The spokesperson formula applied is against all recommendations of crisis communication. Regarding the journalistic coverage, examples of alarmism and sensationalism news arised. The numeric data have been the resource more valuable and the computer graphics the multimedia content more developed. Since the pandemic is still on course, it is recommended the learning and the adjustment of the communication and information to the citizens in the following stages of this crisis or in future crisis taking into account the group of first lessons presented here.

Abstract

Radio is the medium best adapted to crises. This has been demonstrated throughout the history of Spain, both in the 1981 coup d’état attempt and in the terrorist attacks of March 11, 2004. The question that arises then is if in the situation of lockdown suffered by the Spanish population due to the Covid-19 pandemic radio is also playing an important role. This study answers this question through a survey answered by 560 radio listeners during the lockdown. The research has focused on knowing the listening habits, radio consumption, and the perception that these listeners have of the medium in this crisis. The data indicate that the respondents have changed their listening habits and have increased their medium consumption. During the lockdown, they are listening to the radio mostly in the living room, bedroom, and kitchen while cleaning or cooking. They are also consuming more hours of radio, more stations (of different ideological positions), and more shows. For these listeners, radio is positioned as the medium that is best covering information about the coronavirus and the one that they consider most credible, the closest, that most stimulates the imagination, that reduces loneliness, and is the most distracting. Overall, the results of this study allow us to conclude that the radio is once again playing a leading role in the coronavirus crisis, as it has occurred throughout the history of Spain.

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has confined millions of citizens in their homes. The situation of isolation has many consequences at multiple levels: social, psychological, economic, educational..., and also communicative. Based on a survey to 1,122 people during the most severe confinement phase, this article aims to analyze how information consumption has been modified during this period of time, and how citizens assess media coverage of Covid-19. The results show citizenship get more news and more frequently than before the health crisis. All in all, citizens maintain a critical attitude towards media coverage of the outbreak, which is, according to the results, conditioned by the media ideology, and reported in a sensationalist way, generating unnecessary social alarm.