Reza Saberi
Abstract
Statement of problem
The present study aimed to investigate how news related to the first wave of coronavirus outbreak in Iran was reflected on two websites, "IRIB" and "BBC Persian". Since December 2019, the terms "corona" and "COVID-19" have become among the ...
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Statement of problem
The present study aimed to investigate how news related to the first wave of coronavirus outbreak in Iran was reflected on two websites, "IRIB" and "BBC Persian". Since December 2019, the terms "corona" and "COVID-19" have become among the most commonly used news concepts in traditional and modern media worldwide to represent a human event or crisis that was first observed in hospitals and clinics in Wuhan, China. The website is considered a modern media that content exchange or publication is only possible with the help of digital processing tools.
The concept of "news" in this study included all news, reports, interviews, notes, and expert analysis published on the "first wave of coronavirus outbreak in Iran" on the BBC Persian and IRIB news websites. The first wave of coronavirus in Iran began on February 20, 2020, and ended on June 6, 2020. This study used a quantitative content analysis method to code the content of the messages on the studied websites in 17 variables and 62 sub-variables. The statistical population included 1,015 units of analysis, and by using the Cochran formula, 278 news, reports, interviews, or analyses were selected as samples, and the data was collected using a multi-stage (quota and systematic random) sampling method.
The theoretical framework of this research is based on the principle that news coverage in media and websites can be explained based on the theory of social responsibility. However, media policy is influenced by internal and external factors at national and international levels, which affect the content of media and guide their news values and mission towards specific directions. Therefore, theories such as framing theory, agenda-setting theory, and gatekeeping theory can better differentiate media in terms of their presentation and quality of news content.
Research findings
The findings of the study indicate that the coverage of COVID-19 news in Iran is largely influenced by news values of "conflict", "magnitude", "comprehensiveness" and "celebrity", while values such as "exceptionality", "novelty" and "proximity" had little impact on the news. The representation of the crisis on the studied websites was characterized by distinct features. Some of these include:
• In the first wave of COVID-19, two-thirds (69.1%) of the news on the COVID-19 situation on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) website were based on their own news agency, indicating the "exclusive" nature of their news source. By contrast, BBC Persian published about half (48.2%) of their news based on an unknown source.
• Approximately 94% of the images used on the IRIB website had no news direction, while BBC Persian adopted a negative direction in their images (about 41%) as part of a desirable strategy to attract audiences and present an undesirable image of the COVID-19 situation in Iran.
• In the first wave of COVID-19 in Iran, providing accurate statistics on the number of COVID-19 cases accounted for around 19% of the content on the IRIB website, compared to 5.75% on the BBC Persian website, indicating less attention to accuracy in the representation of events on the IRIB website.
• The BBC Persian website identifies the origin of the virus as a natural cause and its source as China (which has good relations with Iran), while the IRIB website considers the virus to be an "unnatural" disease (man-made) and attributes its origin to the United States.
• COVID-19 news on the IRIB website mainly indicates good management of the COVID-19 virus in Iran, with 87% of their news referring to it. In contrast, BBC Persian presents a very different perspective, with 98% of their news portraying the COVID-19 situation as undesirable and criticizing the poor management of the situation in Iran.
Conclusion
Based on the theoretical framework of the study, the findings indicate that although the COVID-19 virus as a pervasive human disease with multiple and important news values has attracted the attention of news websites to reflect its various dimensions, the commitment of each news website to a particular framing has resulted in the spirit of the framework being reflected in the produced content of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) website as a media outlet in favor of the current situation, choosing an "optimistic" approach, while BBC Persian as a media outlet opposed to the current situation, reproduces a "concerned" approach in COVID-19 news events.
Keywords: COVID-19, news, IRIB website, BBC Persian website, quantitative content analysis.
