The COVID-19 Pandemic as an Emergency in Electronic Media Publications

The article presents the content analysis results of publications on electronic media websites that are devoted to the coronavirus infection (COVID-19) pandemic for the first wave (from January to June 2020) period. The study aims to identify the representation features of the COVID-19 pandemic as an emergency situation threatening people and society and to determine the changes in the image of the pandemic features in the electronic media Internet sites materials, based on the publication dynamics analysis. The research empirical base was an array of texts published on three media websites (“Vesti 24”, “Izvestia”, “Radio Sputnik”), which are the Russian media leaders in the rating for 2020, according to the citation index criterion. The research unit selection was carried out using the Yandex News aggregator (the version is valid until June 2021). The sample population structure was Izvestia — 52% (17,452 publications), Vesti 24 — 32.7% (10,976 publications), Radio Sputnik — 15.3% (5138 publications). Chronologically, the array of media tests covered the period from January 2020 to June 2020. The analysis was carried out on the following parameters basis: publication dynamics on the pandemic, disease spread geography, damaging factor and damage process, main stages of infectious (damaging) process, the COVID-19 pandemic impact on human and various spheres of society, infection spread resistance. In the course of study, it was found that during the first pandemic wave, electronic media focused most attention on politics, health care and economics. The obtained results allowed us to make a conclusion about the balance of fearful and optimistic information in the electronic media Internet sites publications on the COVID-19 pandemic.