Media System and the Coverage of COVID 19 Pandemic: Assessment of Emerging Issues

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic received enormous media coverage from the very beginning when it was first noticed in Wahan, China in December 2019. The media system which was hitherto  defined by state political institutions and system witnessed a paradigm shift from the normative-critical approach to a rise of digital media that is analytical and characterized by a loose institutional framework. Consequently, a new media system heralded the COVID-19 era with robust communicative power that speaks to a majority of the global population. The paper used secondary data (document analysis) to descriptively analyzed issues that arose from the communicative power of the new media system coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. These issues included emergence of a new media/medicine relations, the change in pattern of health news consumption and persistent public fear and panic. The paper recommended for a regulatory framework for telehealth service delivery, governments engagement of the public using social media platform and development of real-time alerts system for public health officials to respond quickly to misinformation during pandemics.