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Christian Drosten (symbol picture): "Most of the media have orientated themselves towards the medical consensus"
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / picture alliance / dpa
German media reported predominantly factual and neutral during the corona pandemic. They mostly quoted politicians, scientists and doctors. Affected and Corona skeptics hardly appeared: This was the result of a study by the Rudolf Augstein Foundation with the title "One-sided, uncritical, close to the government?" Accordingly, health experts such as the virologist Christian Drosten and SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach dominated the discussion. According to the study, however, little attention was paid to the economic consequences of the pandemic.
"Most of the media were based on the medical consensus and were a member of the“ Team Caution ”," said Carsten Reinemann, professor for media research and head of the study.
»One can definitely see that as evidence of rationality, scientific orientation and a high quality of reporting.
However, this also means that some alternative perspectives faded into the background. "
Covid-19 sufferers and those who oppose the vaccination hardly occur
In the study, scientists from the Universities of Mainz and Munich dealt with the question of how the quality of media coverage of the Covid 19 pandemic in Germany should be assessed. The subject of the study was eleven leading media, including the online offers of "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", "Süddeutscher Zeitung", SPIEGEL and "Bild" newspaper. In addition, television formats such as the ARD “Tagesschau” and “RTL aktuell”. The scientists rated the offers on criteria such as relevance, diversity, objectivity, correctness and balance - over the period from January 1, 2020 to April 30, 2021.
According to the study, a total of 47 percent of political actors had their say in the media. Scientists came in behind with 19 percent. Those affected who fell ill or died from Covid-19 themselves or their relatives, on the other hand, only made up 1.2 percent. Corona skeptics such as representatives of the "lateral thinking" movement were similarly rarely mentioned, at 1.6 percent: "The accusation that these were also disproportionately spoken in the reporting of the leading media is consequently not confirmed," says the study .
The reporting is mostly factual.
According to this, more than half of all the articles examined worked with statistics and individual cases.
However, the dangers of Corona are often understated.
Only 50 percent of the articles gave the impression that Covid-19 was more dangerous than the influenza virus.
In 30 percent there is even the impression that the seasonal flu virus is more dangerous.
During the corona pandemic, media coverage was repeatedly criticized.
The German Press Council reported more complaints than ever for 2020.
They often had to do with pandemic reporting.
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