earticle

영어

This study, based on the context of the COVID-19 epidemic, conducts content analysis and quantitative research on the relevant news coverage during the outbreak period on China's China News Network and Korea's Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo, and Dong-A Ilbo. By integrating literature review, content analysis, and case study methods, it explores the differences in thematic frames and implicit risk communication contained in the news coverage of the two countries' media during different stages of the COVID-19 outbreak. The results indicate that, in terms of thematic frames, during the early stages of the pandemic, the initial lockdown periods in China and South Korea, and the most recent outbreak period of the epidemic during the investigation of this study, Chinese news coverage had a higher proportion of including authoritative explanations and action guidance compared to Korea. This suggests that Chinese news coverage placed greater emphasis on conveying scientific explanations and authoritative statements made by experts and scholars, as well as guiding public behavior at the micro level. Korean news coverage had a higher proportion of impact frames, emphasizing the impact of the pandemic domestically and internationally. In terms of risk communication, Chinese media pays more attention to providing practical advice in their news coverage compared to Korean media. During the first week after the first lockdown in both China and Korea, Korean news coverage had a higher proportion of risk comparison, process explanations, and definition explanations than Chinese news coverage. This indicates that for the same government measures, due to the accumulated experience of implementing precedents, news coverage in regions/countries that implemented them later tend to have a greater proportion of risk comparison information, risk information about the process of epidemic, and risk information in terms of definitions. As a result, people in those regions/countries can more easily understand the risk information related to the epidemic. In terms of risk factor analysis, Chinese news coverage contained more risk factors, risk knowledge, and risk prevention suggestion compared to Korean news reports. No significant difference was found in terms of risk level information.