This project applies a novel methodology that combines topic models and network analysis for assessing and comparing the mediatisation of pandemic crises: the 2010 H1N1 influenza pandemic and the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic. We will collect data from a range of news media to map out and explain the semantic structures of the mass media responses to the two pandemic events; and systematically compare them.
Project funding:
KTU Research and Innovation Fund
Project results:
This project used big data techniques to compare the discursive structures in the mass media responses to COVID-19 and the Swine Flu. Analyzing a large sample of US legacy newspapers via network analysis and topic models, the project finds remarkable stability in media responses despite the significant changes in background conditions between the respective time periods
Period of project implementation: 2020-04-14 - 2020-12-31
