21. Role of New Media in Health Journalism

New media plays a pivotal role in disseminating health information. This was apparent during the outbreak of Covid-19 when traditional media moved to the backstage it was new media which led to creating awareness among the public. This study examines the media frames used by the journalists in the news portals ‘in constructing news about the pandemic, the plight of the people and the parameter used by the government to control the outbreak’. In this study, the news articles about Covid-19 published on the news portals from March 2020, March 2021 and March 2022, immediately after the outbreak, middle of the outbreak and at the time of decline were analysed and identified the presence of six public health pandemic frames: consequence, uncertainty, action, reassurance, conflict and new evidence formulated by Shih, Wijaya and Brossard. When media frames were reconnoiter, the persistent pattern adopted in the news portals was recognised. The concept of Michel Foucault’s ‘Media Gaze’ was adopted to analyse the public health pandemic frames.