In liberal democracies, there is the expectation that the role of mass media is to provide swift and accurate information to the public – especially in times of crisis such as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Risk communication is particularly challenging for journalists as they have to balance the circulation of precise information on dangers and the avoidance of fear-mongering. This presentation by Yosuke Buchmeier addresses the question of how the Covid-19 crisis has been covered in the Japanese media, primarily focusing on television news coverage of the public broadcaster NHK. This research project is based on the theoretical concept of ‘agenda-cutting’, which describes the phenomenon when a relevant societal issue is deliberately de-emphasized, entirely omitted or removed from a news agenda. Details

Speaker:
Yosuke Buchmeier, LMU Munich/DIJ Tokyo