Power, Media and the Covid-19 Pandemic: Framing Public Discourse

321 Pages·2021·8.061 MB·English

by  Stuart Price, Ben Harbisher

“Coterminous with the Covid-19 crisis has been a global ‘infodemic’, as responses
by governments, political actors and publics have met, meshed and competed in
the multi-dimensional media spaces formed by mass self-communication. One
of the many strengths of this volume is its multiple disciplinary lenses, deployed
to ask a question of strategic importance: has the pandemic reinforced existing
relations of power and dominance? The book will prove a significant asset for
researchers in many fields as they meet the challenges bequeathed by events that
have dominated news agendas over the past two years.”
Professor Jake Lynch, University of Sydney, and Leverhulme Visiting Professor, Centre
for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University, UK

POWER, MEDIA AND THE
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
This edited collection provides an in-depth, interdisciplinary critique of the acts
of public communication disseminated during a major global crisis.
Encompassing contributions from academics working in the fields of politics,
environmentalism, citizens’ rights, state theory, cultural studies, journalism
and discourse/rhetoric, the book offers an original insight into the relationship
between the various social forces that contributed to the ‘Covid narrative’. The
subjects analysed here include: the performance of the ‘mainstream’ media, the
quality of political ‘messaging’ and argumentation, the securitised state and
racism in Brazil, the growth of ‘catastrophic management’ in UK universities,
emergent journalistic practices in South Africa, homelessness and punitive
dispossession, the pandemic and the history of eugenics, and the Chinese media’s
attempt to disguise discriminatory practices. This is one of the first comparative
studies of the various rationales offered for state/corporate intervention in public
life during the pandemic. Delving beneath established political tropes and state
rhetoric, it identifies the power relations exposed by an event that was described
as unprecedented and unique but was in fact comparable to other major global
disruptions. As governments insisted on distinguishing their own propaganda
from unregulated disinformation, their increasingly sceptical ‘publics’ pursued
their own idiosyncratic solutions to the crisis, while the apparent sacrifice of a
host of citizens – from the most dedicated to the most vulnerable – suggested that
inequality and exploitation remained at the heart of the social order.
Power, Media and the Covid-19 Pandemic is essential reading for students,
researchers and academics in media, communication and journalism studies,
politics, environmental sciences, critical discourse analysis, cultural studies and
the sociology of health.
Stuart Price is Professor of Media and Political Discourse and Director of the
Media Discourse Centre. He is the author of a number of monographs includ-
ing Brute Reality (2010) and Worst-Case Scenario? (2011) and Editor (with Ruth
Sanz Sabido) of The Legacy of Dissent (2015) and Sites of Protest (2016). Recent
publications include Journalism, Power and Investigation (2019) and “8M and the
Huelga General Feminista, 2019-2020” for The Routledge Companion to Political
Journalism (2021).
Ben Harbisher is Senior Lecturer in Teaching and Research at De Montfort
University. He is Deputy Director of the Media Discourse Centre and Chair of
the MeCCSA Practice Network. He has published in several academic journals
and edited volumes, with lead articles in the Journal for the Study of British Cultures
and Hard Times. Other published works have appeared in Surveillance and Society
and Critical Discourse Analysis. Dr Harbisher is also Lead Academic on the interna-
tional #SDGFilmfest, which is a collaborative research project between the UK
and South East Asia.
POWER, MEDIA AND
THE COVID-19
PANDEMIC
Framing Public Discourse
Edited by Stuart Price and Ben Harbisher
Cover image © Shutterstock
First published 2022
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Stuart Price and Ben Harbisher;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Stuart Price and Ben Harbisher to be identified as the
authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-367-70630-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-70632-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-14729-9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003147299
Typeset in Bembo
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
In memory of Rivers Barry, at various times Lecturer in English Language at
Somerset College of Arts and Technology, and Lecturer at Bridgewater and Huish
Colleges. Formerly Chair of Nynehead CC and President of Cullompton RFC.

CONTENTS
List of figures xii
List of tables xiii
List of contributors xiv
Acknowledgements xviii
Introduction xix
PART I
THE PANDEMIC: HISTORICAL, MEDICAL AND RACIAL CONFIGURATIONS 1
1 Killing fields: Pandemics, geopolitics and environmental
emergency 3
Graham Murdock
2 Biopolitics, eugenics and the new state racism 22
Ben Harbisher
3 The subsumption of racial discrimination: The
representation of Chinese mainstream media of the
maltreatment of African nationals in Guangzhou during the
Covid-19 pandemic 55
Zhou Yang and Na Yuqi