Light at the End of the Covid-19 Tunnel?

While the number of confirmed cases has continued to rise, the general media sentiment is becoming more positive. This can help bring hope to the public, instead of adding to their worries.

Kompas/Heru Sri Kumoro

Covid-19 task force spokesman Achmad Yurianto gives updated information on the handling of Covid-19 at the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta on Monday (9/3/2020).

As of today (5/5/2020), the number of confirmed cases and deaths has continued to rise. However, the media is not filled entirely with negative reports, and the number of positive coverage has been growing of late.

Since President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced the country’s first Covid-19 cases in early March, public attention has been consumed by updates on Covid-19 mitigation efforts. Even today, many are asking when the epidemic might end, while the number of confirmed cases grows day by day.

More than 10,000 confirmed cases have been recorded over the past two months. Many believe that, the number of confirmed cases will mushroom when testing becomes more widespread.

Other countries are seeing a gradual slowing of transmission and even a decline in new cases.

According to the Health Ministry’s data, the increasing number of confirmed cases is not the only concern. There seemed to be no end in sight to the epidemic by late April.

The number of confirmed cases cannot be expected to decline when the virus’ spread has showed no signs of slowing. Meanwhile, other countries are seeing a gradual slowing of transmission and even a decline in new cases.

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In addition to the daily increase in confirmed cases, the number of deaths related to Covid-19 has also been rising. As of 4 May 2020, the disease had claimed 864 lives. However, it is worth noting that the fatality ratio is being brought under control as the number of deaths have grown.

CSIS/ HARYO ASWICAHYONO

Covid-19 outbreaks in various countries that show the difference in acceleration of the outbreak.

Indeed, the figure has yet to plateau. Days showing a surge in the number of deaths have been seen since mid-April. On closer look, however, the surges were not as high as they had been in previous weeks.

Meanwhile, more good news has come regarding recovered patients, with their numbers overtaking deaths.

This means that, a clearer path out from under the shadow of Covid-19 is emerging as more and more patients recover from the disease. New hope is rising behind the worries. There is light at the end of the tunnel if these positive conditions can be sustained.

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The feelings of both hope and anxiety are connected to how the country’s Covid-19 figures are interpreted. Interpreting data is relative and different from reading the data.

Subjectivity plays a role and can lead to a variety of interpretations. This is why interpretations of certain Covid-19 data can lead to increased anxiety for some, while it brings hope to others.

Media coverage is inseparable in this. In their role as producers and disseminators of information, the members of the media are exposed to a variety of data and facts that they must interpret, reconstruct and repackage as newsworthy information.

The media plays the role of a data decoder in this context, and different media outlets can produce different reports from the same dataset.

Also read : Analyzing the Global Spread of Covid-19

Kompas

The number of corona virus tests in Indonesia is compared per 1 million population compared to the smallest neighboring country. Source: Our World in Data.

The Covid-19 pandemic is a case that can be used to analyze this process effectively. The increase in confirmed cases, transmission to regional areas, and the number of deaths are among the basic data in news reports.

Beyond these facts are other news materials. These are all gathered from primary and secondary sources that media outlets then process, analyze, interpret and package into information for public consumption.

Divergence is inevitable. Even if media outlets adhere strictly to journalistic principles, it is impossible to completely eliminate subjectivity.

Also read : Comprehensive, Open Contact Tracing of People with Covid-19 Urgent in Indonesia

Such conditions give rise to diverse discourses on Covid-19 among the media. The problem is, amid the differing reports, what is the overall tone and sentiment these reports generate towards the epidemic?

Not much has been revealed about the journalistic practices of mainstream media, namely print and broadcast media. However, it is interesting to observe the information that is spread on social media, which the Research, Publication and Community Service Center of the London School of Public Relations (LSPR) has analyzed. The analytical study, “Discussions on Covid-19 on Online and Social Media in Indonesia”, was authored by Lestari Nurhajati et al.

The study looked at 23,229 online discussions that contained the phrase “Corona Indonesia” on the web, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter from 2 March-7 April 2020.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

A beggar sits on a crossing bridge at a Transjakarta bus shelter in Mangga Dua, Central Jakarta, amid large-scale social restrictions on Monday (4/5/2020). Social restrictions are still in place as the daily increase of Covid-19 confirmed cases is still high.

The study found that negative sentiment was prevalent on social media in the first two weeks since the first Covid-19 cases were announced (2-14 March 2020). This conclusion was drawn from 821 discussions and 37,600,762 media impressions gathered across the web, Facebook and YouTube.

Of these, the study found that 47 percent of all content was negative, while 36 percent was neutral and 17 percent was positive.

For instance, the public response to government communication on the issue was mostly negative. The LSPR researchers also cited a health communication study by Abraham (2011, p.3), which noted that a communication crisis often occurred during a health emergency, with public relations officials making frequent mistakes.

However, things began to change as public discussions on Covid-19 became more widespread across social media. Compiling the information from various big data sources showed more than 23,000 discussions with around 450 million media impressions. This surge in media spread shows the growth and breadth of Covid-19 discussions in the media reports analyzed in the study.

The tone and sentiment of the discussions also shifted. The study found a shift in tone among news reports during the third and fourth weeks of the Indonesian outbreak (15-30 March 2020), with 28 percent of news reports carrying a positive tone. Meanwhile, 30 percent remained somewhat negative and 42 percent were neutral.

Positive sentiment continued to rise, with 38 percent of news reports presenting a positive tone and only 20 percent still negative by late March and early April. The study also found that the tone of the discussions differed depending on the media.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

A health worker shows the result of a Covid-19 test at Pasar Bogor Market in Bogor municipality on Wednesday (29/4/2020).

Sentiment during 15 March-7 April 2020 was increasingly more positive, even as the number of confirmed cases and deaths continued to grow.

Twitter tended towards more positive sentiment, especially with respect to certain online movements and hashtags. Websites tended to be more neutral, including those managed by mainstream media, while YouTube comments tended to be more negative.

The study becomes more interesting in comparing sentiment to the government’s official Covid-19 figures, because public sentiment grew more positive as confirmed cases and deaths increased between 15 March and 7 April.

This momentum must be maintained until the country emerges from the tunnel and into daylight.

In other words, public discussions grew more positive as the nation’s Covid-19 condition worsened. This is paradoxical, especially in the context of media outlets’ orientation as information producers.

In the context of the epidemic, however, these facts have benefits for society.

The growing positivity in the media’s approach towards current issues can be beneficial in that it can, at the very least, spread hope instead of fear among the public. This momentum must be maintained until the country emerges from the tunnel and into daylight. (KOMPAS R&D)