Quantifying Online News Media Coverage of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Text Mining Study and Resource.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Before the advent of an effective vaccine, nonpharmaceutical interventions, such as mask-wearing, social distancing, and lockdowns, have been the primary measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Such measures are highly effective when there is high population-wide adherence, which requires information on current risks posed by the pandemic alongside a clear exposition of the rules and guidelines in place.

Objective

Here we analyzed online news media coverage of COVID-19. We quantified the total volume of COVID-19 articles, their sentiment polarization, and leading subtopics to act as a reference to inform future communication strategies.

Methods

We collected 26 million news articles from the front pages of 172 major online news sources in 11 countries (ava

SUBMITTER: Krawczyk K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8174556 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature