Coverage of the pandemic in newspapers

Aarthi N

All newspapers have been covering the pandemic in an exhaustive manner using statistics, infographics, illustrations, in-depth analysis of the trends, stories on the daily spread of Covid-19 and survivor tales along with pictures.

Newspapers play a major role in our day to day lives. Though the news is proximity-based in a city, a lot of newspapers have been trying to make their readers understand what is happening throughout our country at such times. They use various techniques from data related infographics to illustrations to make people understand the situation and the importance of it.

The Times of India covers covid-19 through infographics and feature stories along with main stories to inform their readers of all aspects of what’s happening around. Other papers too, follow the same method to make people understand the situation in a better way possible. Bar and column charts give the data to the readers and inform them of the number of cases in a particular state or narrow it down to their city itself. Times of India published data of red and green zones in the form of infographics for the readers for better clarity.

The New Indian Express, during the Koyambedu cluster, had a whole page in the form of a question and answer on “What went wrong at Koyambedu?” which explained the details. The same news in Times of India was published as “Five things Chennai did wrong” which explained what went wrong that led to the high number of cases in the city.

Deccan Herald, a Bengaluru based newspaper covers individual life stories as well as data related stories during this pandemic. They cover stories locality wise with high cases and also stories of the scenario at the hospitals.

The online newspaper came up with live infographic along with the data related stories.

Every newspaper is covering the pandemic in a way that would attract the readers and make it easy for them to understand the situation and follow the guidelines.

Also, during this pandemic, there was various misinformation that newspapers spread the virus and so people stopped buying them. Though it was clarified by WHO (World Health Organisation) that newspapers do not carry any viruses, people were still reluctant to buy them due to fear. Newspapers like Times of India, The Economic Times published advertisements in the newspapers that they are at safe hands and will not spread the virus. They also posted a video of how their papers are printed safely without human touch and how they are safely ported to other places.

The pandemic grabbing attention on the front page every day is explained in different ways in different newspapers. With the pandemic being the most important issue in our everyday lives, they are told in different ways, either as hard news or as a feature story according to the newspapers. The reporters find interesting ways to connect with their readers through their writing style and the way the information is provided to the readers. 

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Photo by brotiN biswaS from Pexels