The Covid-19 Pandemic as a Challenge for Media and Communication Studies

257 Pages·2022·18.367 MB·English

by  Katarzyna Kopecka-Piech (editor), Bartłomiej Łódzki (editor)

The Covid-19 Pandemic as
a Challenge for Media and
Communication Studies
This truly interdisciplinary volume brings together a diverse group of schol-
ars to explore changes in the signifcance of media and communication in
the era of pandemic. The book answers two interrelated questions: how
media and communication reality changed during the frst wave of the
COVID-19 pandemic, and how media and communication were effectively
studied during this time.
The book presents changes in media and communication in three ar-
eas: media production, media content, and media usage contexts. It then
describes the theoretical and practical, methodological, technical, organi-
zational, and ethical challenges in conducting research in circumstances of
sudden change in research conditions, emergency situations and developing
crises. Drawing on various theoretical studies and empirical research, the
volume illustrates the principles and results of applying diverse research
methods to the changing role of media in a pandemic and offers good prac-
tices and guidance to address the problems in implementing research pro-
jects in a time of sudden diffculties and challenges.
This diverse and interdisciplinary book will be of signifcance to scholars
and researchers in media studies, communication studies, research meth-
ods, sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies.
Katarzyna Kopecka-Piech is Assistant Professor with Habilitation at Maria
Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland.
Bartłomiej Łódzki is Assistant Professor at the University of Wroclaw,
Poland.
Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies
Cyberpunk Culture and Psychology
Seeing through the Mirrorshades
Anna McFarlane
Consuming Utopia
Cultural Studies and the Politics of Reading
John Storey
Language, Image, and Power in Luso-Hispanic Cultural Studies
Theory and Practice
Edited by Susan Larson
Illusion in Cultural Practice
Productive Deceptions
Edited by Katharina Rein
Activating Cultural and Social Change
The Pedagogies of Human Rights
Edited by Baden Offord, Caroline Fleay, Lisa Hartley, Yirga Gelaw
Woldeyes and Dean Chan
The Covid-19 Pandemic as a Challenge for Media and
Communication Studies
Edited by Katarzyna Kopecka-Piech and Bartłomiej Łódzki
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.rout ledge .
com/
The Covid-19 Pandemic as
a Challenge for Media and
Communication Studies
Edited by
Katarzyna Kopecka-Piech and
Bartłomiej Łódzki
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Katarzyna Kopecka-Piech
and Bartłomiej Łódzki; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Katarzyna Kopecka-Piech and Bartłomiej Łódzki to be
identifed 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.
With the exception of Chapter 3, 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.
Chapter 3 of this book is available for free in PDF format as Open
Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. It
has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-
Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore contributed to the funding of
this research project and its publication.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation 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: 978-1-032-13441-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-13941-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-23204-9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003232049
Typeset in Sabon
by codeMantra
Contents
List of fgures ix
List of tables xi
List of contributors xiii
Acknowledgements xvii
Introduction 1
KATARZYNA KOPECKA-PIECH AND BARTŁ OMIEJ ŁÓDZKI
PART I
New theoretical and methodological foundations 7
1 Dilemmas and uncertainty: seven research challenges
during the COVID-19 pandemic 9
KATARZYNA KOPECKA-PIECH
2 The uberisation of higher education: datafed dynamics in
the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic 23
GÖRAN BOLIN
3 An ecological approach: the infodemic, pandemic,
and COVID-19 35
FAUSTO COLOMBO
4 Research project reformulation: a narrative on the design
and methodological changes implemented during the emergency 49
LEOPOLDINA FORTUNATI
vi Contents
PART II
Changes in media outlets activity and practices 61
5 Broadcasters’ strategy case studies: modifcation of product
offers as a challenge in times of plague and survival 63
ANNA JUPOWICZ-GINALSKA
6 Natural language processing and statistic: the frst six
months of the COVID-19 infodemic in Croatia 78
SLOBODAN BELIGA, SANDA MARTINČ IĆ -IPŠIĆ ,
MIHAELA MATEŠIĆ AND ANA MEŠTROVIĆ
7 News shareability analysis: global television channels as
sources of information during the pandemic 93
BARTŁ OMIEJ ŁÓDZKI
PART III
Changes in media content and narration 105
8 Narrative mode of analysis: from media texts to pandemic
memoryscape 107
NEVENA DAKOVIĆ
9 Diaries: the lockdown narratives of individuals 119
VALENTINA MARINESCU, BIANCA FOX, RAMONA
MARINACHE, DANIELA ROVENȚA FRUMUȘ ANI
AND VIORICA-SILVIA BRANEA
10 Media-aesthetic approach: a global visualisation
of the pandemic 131
MARINA ZAGIDULLINA
11 Qualitative and quantitative social media content
analysis: TikTok usage by the World Health Organization
during the frst wave of the COVID-19 pandemic 143
ROKSANA M. ZDUNEK
Contents vii
12 Mixed analysis of user activity, content and
networks: twitter’s information cascades on conspiratorial
pandemics 157
SARA MONACI AND SIMONE PERSICO
PART IV
Changes in media usage and reception 171
13 Participative research: the case of media usage by
children due to the COVID-19 pandemic 173
ANDA ANCA RODIDEAL
14 Diaries: researching lockdown social distancing
in the digital age 186
MANUELA FARINOSI AND CHIARA PICCOLO
15 Search trends analysis: how the COVID-19 pandemic
affected other health campaigns 200
RICARDO MATOS DE ARAÚJO RIOS AND
EDSON CARLO BRANDÃO SILVA
16 Sentiment analysis, topic modelling and
social network analysis: COVID-19, protest movements
and the Polish Tweetosphere 210
ANDRZEJ JARYNOWSKI AND DANIEL PŁ ATEK
Conclusions 225
17 Various dynamics of the COVID-19 world of media
and communication research 227
KATARZYNA KOPECKA-PIECH
Index 235

Figures
5.1 Production, programming modifcations, and the
calendar of the epidemic (frst phase) 68
6.1 The percentage of COVID-19 related articles in the total
number of articles summarised across the frst six months
of the pandemic in Croatia (from 25th February 2020 to
24th August 2020) (a) and the percentage of COVID-19
related articles summarised across fve online portals (b) 84
6.2 Number of articles vs. number of COVID-19 cases per
day: Examples of Portal 4 and Portal 5 and sum of
all portals 85
6.3 The Jaccard similarity for six months of the
pandemic (a) and The Jaccard similarity for three
periods of the pandemic (b) 88
11.1 The coding scheme for the micro-videos posted by the
WHO during the frst wave of the COVID-19 pandemic 147
11.2 Leading threads in WHO communication on TikTok in
particular terms 150
12.1 Co-hashtag graph obtained with Gephi by the researchers 164
14.1 DHC dendrogram 193
16.1 Weighted retweet network of 1,729 most central accounts
participating in the #Strajkkobiet discourse 215
16.2 Weighted retweet network of 1,559 most central
Twitter accounts participating in the coronascepticism
discourse 217
16.3 Weighted retweet network of 1,123 most central
accounts on Twitter participating in the agricultural
protest discourse 217