Analyzing The New York Times Editorials on Social Distancing During the COVID-19 Pandemic

August 31, 2023  |  Vol.9, No.8  |  PP. 331-342  | PDF

AUTHORS:

Suk-Kyoung Won, Department of Communication and Media Studies, University of Dong-Eui, Korea

Eun-Ho Yeo, Communication and Media Studies, Plymouth State University, USA

Kyung-Woo Park, Media and Communication, Dong-A University, Korea

KEYWORDS:

Cluster Analysis, Convergence of Iterated Correlations, COVID-19, Editorials, Media, Media Framing, New York Times, Social Distancing, Text Mining

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected our society, and the media has played a crucial role in shaping the public's understanding of the crisis. As a social institution, the media constructs and disseminates information about the pandemic, providing interpretations of the complexities of reality such as social distancing. To examine how media construct stories about social distancing during the pandemic, this study analyzed The New York Times editorial articles published during the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizing word-association network analysis and cluster analysis based on Convergence of Iterated Correlations analysis, this study examined 653 editorials published in The New York Times regarding social distancing in the period spanning January 27, 2020, to January 4, 2023. The word-association network analysis revealed that the most salient keywords in the editorials were “COVID”, “People”, and “Virus.” Cluster analysis identified four major discussions constructed in the text: "The Impact of Science and Politics on Public Benefit," "Challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic," "Government Responses to Combat the Spread of the COVID-19," and "Impact of the COVID-19 on Daily Lives in New York." The findings indicated that the most frequently employed keywords revolved around the pandemic and the associated governmental responses. Furthermore, the media narratives concerning social distancing were predominantly framed around the salience of government interventions, scientific strategies, and the role of social distancing.

Menu

APJCRI

    The purpose of this journal is to share and exchange the results of recent research by Asia-Pacific national researchers, and the purpose of the project is to publish the results of convergence research with the humanities and social sciences, including advanced research in specific fields.

References:

[1] M. L. Holshue, C. DeBolt, S. Lindquist, K. H. Lofy, J. Wiesman, H. Bruce, C. C. Spitters, K. Ericson, S. Wilkerson, A. Tural, G. Diaz, A. Cohn, L. Fox, A. Patel, S. I. Gerber, L. Kim, S. Tong, X. Lu, S. Lindstrom, M. A. Pallansch, W. C. Weldon, H. M. Biggs, T. M. Uyeki, S. K. Pillai, First case of 2019 novel coronavirus in the United States, The New England Journal of Medicine, (2003), Vol.382, pp.929-936.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2001191
[2] Coronavirus Guidelines for America – The White House, (2023)
Available from: https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/coronavirus-guidelines-america/
[3] K. Pearce, What is social distancing and how can it slow the spread of COVID-19? (2023)
Available from: https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/03/13/what-is-social-distancing/
[4] CDC Museum COVID-19 Timeline, (2023)
Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html
[5] A. Wilder-Smith, D. O. Freedman, Isolation, quarantine, social distancing and community containment: pivotal role for old-style public health measures in the novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, Journal of Travel Medicine, (2020), Vol.27, No.2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taaa020
[6] R. O. Jackson, Black immigrants and the rhetoric of social distancing, Sociology Compass, (2010), Vol.4, No.3, pp.193-206.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2009.00266.x
[7] S. Dutta, Top 10 famous newspapers in the world 2023, (2023)
Available from: https://www.edudwar.com/top-10-newspapers-in-the-world/2022
[8] M. J. Pedersen, N. Favero, Social distancing during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Who are the present and future noncompliers?, Public administration review, (2020), Vol.80, No.5, pp.805-814.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13240
[9] A. L. Eden, B. K. Johnson, L. Reinecke, S. M. Grady, Media for coping during COVID-19 social distancing: Stress, anxiety, and psychological well-being, Frontiers in psychology, (2020), Vol.11.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.577639
[10] S. Boon-Itt, Y. Skunkan, Public perception of the COVID-19 pandemic on Twitter: sentiment analysis and topic modeling study, JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, (2020), Vol.6, No.4, e21978.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2196/21978
[11] S. Saleh, C. Lehmann, S. McDonald, M. Basit, R. Medford, Understanding public perception of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) social distancing on Twitter, Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, (2021), Vol.42, No.2, pp. 131-138.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2020.406
[12] N. R. A Putra, Discourse Analysis on A Governments’ COVID-19 Protocols Video Titled “Social Distancing, The Art of Teaching English As a Foreign Language, (2023), Vol.4, No.1, pp.30-35.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36663/tatefl.v4i1.495
[13] B. Nerlich, R. Jaspal, Social representations of ‘social distancing’ in response to COVID-19 in the UK media, Current Sociology, (2021), Vol.69, No.4, pp.566-583.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392121990030
[14] S. S. Fatima, Understanding the Construction of Journalistic Frames during Crisis Communication : Editorial Coverage of COVID-19 in New York Times, Södertörn University, Master Thesis, (2020)
Available from: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-41254
[15] P. D'Angelo, Framing: media frames, The International Encyclopedia of Media Effects, New York: Wiley, (2017)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118783764.wbieme0048
[16] A. Jeon, Y. Lee, A study on user perceptions of airline in-flight meal cafes using big data, International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, (2022), Vol.36, No.8, pp.169-183.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21298/IJTHR.2022.8.36.8.169
[17] N. Jin, Semantic Network analysis of domestic and overseas media coverage regarding Korea MERS, Kyungpook National University, Master Thesis, (2017)
[18] J. Silge, D. Robinson, Text mining with R: A tidy approach, O'Reilly Media, Inc., (2017)
[19] The New York Times, (2023)
Available from: https://www.nytimes.com/
[20] Textom, (2023)
Available from: https://www.textom.co.kr/home/main/main.php
[21] UCINET software, (2023)
Available from: https://sites.google.com/site/ucinetsoftware/home
[22] M. Anandarajan, C. Hill, T. Nolan, Term-Document Representation, In: Practical Text Analytics, Advances in Analytics and Data Science, (2019), Vol.2, Springer, Cham.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95663-3_5
[23] L. C. Freeman, Centrality in social networks: Conceptual clarification, Social network: critical concepts in sociology, Londres: Routledge, (2002), Vol.1, pp.238-263.
[24] R. L. Breiger, S. A. Boorman, P. Arabie, An algorithm for clustering relational data with applications to social network analysis and comparison with multidimensional scaling, Journal of Mathematical Psychology, (1975), Vol.12, No.3, pp.328-383.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-2496(75)90028-0
[25] W. Poirier, C. Ouellet, M. A. Rancourt, J. Béchard, Y. Dufresne, (Un) covering the COVID-19 pandemic: framing analysis of the crisis in Canada, Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique, (2020), Vol.53, No.2, pp.365-371.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423920000372
[26] J. N. Ogbodo, E. C. Onwe, J. Chukwu, C. J. Nwasum, E. S. Nwakpu, S. U. Nwankwo, S. Nwamini, S. Elem, N. I. Ogbaeja, Communicating health crisis: a content analysis of global media framing of COVID-19, Health Promot Perspect, (2020), Vol.10, No.3, pp.257-269.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34172/hpp.2020.40
[27] A. Dudo, D. Brossard, J. Shanahan, D. A. Scheufele, M. Morgan, N. Signorielli, Science on television in the 21st century: Recent trends in portrayals and their contributions to public attitudes toward science, Communication Research, (2011), Vol.38, No.6, pp.754-777.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650210384988
[28] D. Chong, J. N. Druckman, Framing Public Opinion in Competitive Democracies, American Political Science Review, (2007), Vol.101, No.4, pp.637-655.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055407070554
[29] E. Yeo, K. Park, D. Lee, Exploring Media Depiction of “Social Distancing” During COVID-19 Using Topic Modeling and Word Correlation, Asia-pacific Journal of Convergent Research Interchange (APJCRI), (2021), Vol.7, No.8, pp. 357-366.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.47116/apjcri.2021.08.33

Citations:

APA:
Won, S. K., Yeo, E. H., Park, K. W. (2023). Analyzing The New York Times Editorials on Social Distancing During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Asia-pacific Journal of Convergent Research Interchange (APJCRI), ISSN: 2508-9080 (Print); 2671-5325 (Online), KCTRS, 9(8), 331-342. doi: 10.47116/apjcri.2023.08.26.

MLA:
Won, Suk-Kyoung, et al. “Analyzing The New York Times Editorials on Social Distancing During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Asia-pacific Journal of Convergent Research Interchange, ISSN: 2508-9080 (Print); 2671-5325 (Online), KCTRS, vol. 9, no. 8, 2023, pp. 331-342. APJCRI, http://apjcriweb.org/content/vol9no8/26.html.

IEEE:
[1] S. K. Won, E. H. Yeo, K. W. Park, “Analyzing The New York Times Editorials on Social Distancing During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Asia-pacific Journal of Convergent Research Interchange (APJCRI), ISSN: 2508-9080 (Print); 2671-5325 (Online), KCTRS, vol. 9, no. 8, pp. 331-342, August 2023.


Information

Guidelines

Article

Copyright © 2023 APJCRI. All Rights Reserved