# Differences in sensationalism in international news media reporting of COVID-19: An exploratory analysis using the Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN) system

## TL;DR

This study explores how international news media in different languages reported on the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that some languages used more sensationalized and negative language.

## Contribution

The study introduces a mixed-methods analysis of sensationalism in multilingual news media reporting during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

## Key findings

- 155 out of 951 eligible news articles contained sensationalism.
- Significant differences in sensationalism were found among French, Russian, and Spanish articles.
- News articles with sensationalism had a more negative emotional tone.

## Abstract

The Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN) is an event-based surveillance platform that collects thousands of pieces of open-source information, including international news media, across multiple languages on a daily basis. Analysts have observed that news media reporting in some languages tended to use more sensational wording to describe major health events. There has been minimal research exploring potential differences in sensationalism in international news media reporting to confirm these observations.

This exploratory study assessed the differences in the level of sensationalism in early international news media reporting of COVID-19 through a mixed-methods analysis.

Relevant news media articles received in GPHIN seven days following the Public Health Emergency of International Concern declaration of COVID-19 by the World Health Organization were extracted for screening and analysis. An adapted tool was used to measure the sensationalism of pandemic-related health news. Deductive thematic analysis was conducted to examine themes of sensationalism. Differences in prevalence of sensationalism in news media reporting by language and country/territory of publication were assessed. Sentiment analysis assessed the sentiment and emotional tone of the news media articles.

Of 951 news articles that met the eligibility criteria, 155 contained sensationalism. There were significant differences between languages (French, Russian and Spanish) and various domains of sensationalism. This study also found a more negative emotional tone in news media articles with sensationalism.

This exploratory study showed that language has the potential to impact the perception of health events using more sensationalized language.