Global Pandemics and Media Ethics

This topical volume illuminates ethical issues brought to the fore by the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on a broad range of case studies from different regions, it provides insights into the multiple and complex ways in which the pandemic has shaped media ethics. The chapters employ a wide range of innovative theoretical and methodological approaches to dissect enduring and emerging ethical questions during the pandemic, providing lucid accounts of axiological dimensions in pandemic discourses, ethics of emotional mood, ethical challenges and dilemmas in news reporting, propaganda, misinformation, disinformation and Othering. While the case studies in this book are unique, the authors have extrapolated common strands from their analysis of ethical issues applicable to any other country or region during the pandemic, contributing unique perspectives on how media ethics are circumscribed by global health pandemics. The book will appeal to researchers, academics and practitioners at all levels in the fields of media studies, journalism, communication, media sociology and public health, as well as general readers and policymakers who are keen to learn more about how global health crises illuminate critical ethical issues confronting the media.

Tendai Chari is a senior lecturer in media studies at the University of Venda, South Africa. Martin N. Ndlela is a professor of media and communication at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway.

PART I: OVERVIEW: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES Chapter 1. Introduction: Rethinking Media Ethics During Health Pandemics Chapter 2. Axiological Dimensions in COVID-19 Pandemic Discourses. A comparative analysis of Germany, France and Romania Chapter 3. Emotional Mood and Its Ethics in Crisis Communication PART II: ETHICAL CHALLENGES Chapter 4. Ethical challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic: Experiences of Journalists in Zimbabwe Chapter 5. The Virus of 'Blame': How Television News Transposed Islamophobia onto the COVID-19 Pandemic in India Chapter 6. Professional, Ethical Conflict or a Power Grab? The Case Study of Index during the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic Chapter 7. COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and their implications on journalism ethics in South Africa and Zimbabwe PART III: INFODEMICS Chapter 8. COVID-19, the Global Pandemic and Japanese Media: Limitations of Agenda Setting by Mass Media and Misinformation in Social Media Chapter 9. COVID-19 disinfodemic and journalism ethics in South Africa's mainstream news media ecosystem Chapter 10. Why we should overcome the "infodemic" account Chapter 11. Information, state of alert and propaganda in Spain: Use of social media by Andalusian political parties during the COVID-19 pandemic Contributors Index Glossary