Analyzing the Spread of COVID-19 Information Through Online News Sources: A Comparative Study of the US and EU

This study examines how COVID-19 news was framed in online media, focusing on sentiment and thematic shifts in news coverage across the US and the EU during the first seven months of 2020. The goal was to investigate regional differences in media sentiment and thematic focus and how these variations may influence public perception. A dataset of 1,000,000 news articles from 3,000 media sources across both regions was analyzed using sentiment analysis (SVM) to assess the emotional tone of coverage. Additionally, topic modeling (LDA) was used to identify dominant themes in news discourse. The findings indicate that while both regions predominantly expressed positive sentiment, the EU exhibited a slightly higher proportion of negative sentiment compared to the US. The thematic analysis further revealed substantial regional differences in media narratives, with US media focusing more on political discourse and economic impact, while EU media emphasized healthcare measures and institutional responses. These results highlight the significance of regional context in shaping media representation of global health crises. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of how media-driven narratives evolve during pandemics and offers insights for optimizing public health communication strategies.