Catalyst or Destabiliser? COVID-19 and Its Impact on the Media Landscape Worldwide

"As for so many other sectors, the COVID-19 pandemic has also left its marks on the media landscape world-wide. But has it really been a game-changer, or has it just accelerated and reinforced pre-existing trends?"

This report, published by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Media Programme, seeks to investigate the diverse consequences that COVID-19 has had on the media landscape in different regions of the world. The overarching question is whether the pandemic presents a turning point for the media landscape, or whether it reinforces preexisting trends. Eleven experts and practitioners (including academics, journalists, and editors) assess the impact of COVID-19 on nine world regions and countries, with a focus on four parameters: quality of media coverage, the economic situation of media outlets, digitisation, and freedom of the media.

The 11 contributions cover Asia, Central Eastern Europe, Germany, Latin America, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Southeast Europe, Southern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, and the United States (US). The chapters are diverse in style reflecting the diversity of the situations in the countries and regions covered. The following excerpts summarise some of the trends emerging out of the contributions:

Quality of media coverage
"In terms of quality of media coverage, there are various outcomes: In Asia, for example, small and independent outlets, able to provide reliable information, gained momentum, whereas citizens in the MENA-region turned to social media in search of trustworthy facts on the coronavirus. In South-Eastern Europe, pseudo-journalism and fake news spread mainly via the Internet, while in sub-Saharan Africa innovative formats emerged, which also enhanced the quality of reporting. In many regions and countries, not least in Germany, demand for fact-based, reliable reporting increased, offering an opportunity for quality-oriented media to regain audiences' trust."

The economic situation of media outlets
"The economic situation is difficult for almost all media outlets worldwide, although there are some differences. In Central and Eastern Europe, for example, pro-government media continued to benefit from state-sponsored advertising, while other media suffered even more acute drops in revenue. In many regions, media outlets expanded their online presence to partly compensate these losses by introducing additional paywalls, as was the case in the US, for example. In Latin America, many news outlets had to reduce their staff shortly after the outbreak of COVID-19 due to a shortfall in revenues. Small, independent outlets in Asia and Central Eastern Europe could raise their income through an increase in memberships or subscriptions. In Central Eastern Europe, especially younger generations acknowledged that quality journalism requires financing, while in Southeast Europe, it is still uncommon to pay for online media consumption, which is a setback for independent online journalism."

Digitisation
"In Asia and Central Europe, digital media outlets gained momentum and were accessed far more widely than prior to the pandemic. In Germany, there was also a rise in the use of media outlets' online platforms with paywalls, which remained stable even after the first wave of the coronavirus had subsided. In the US, some newspapers started to offer their customers alternative, digital products along with free access to the necessary electronic equipment. Southern Europe also saw an increase in the use of online products. The pandemic has increased the demand for reliable reporting, and, as a result, the number of digital subscriptions has skyrocketed. In Latin America, digitization of the media, although on the rise, still lags behind compared to other regions, mainly because Internet access is not as common in the region. In general, experts from nearly all the regions covered agree that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digitization of the media landscape, bringing it to a point of no return."

Freedom of the media
"In terms of press freedom, particularly Asia, and most surprisingly China, experienced a short period in which the media were able to cover the emerging health crisis relatively freely. This led to an improvement of the quality of reporting, which, nevertheless and at least in the case of China, was not to last. In the MENA-region, no significant changes could be observed regarding freedom of the press. In most of the region's countries, freedom of the media is just as absent now as it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. In various regions, governments, usually those which had already displayed authoritarian tendencies before the pandemic, resorted to direct or indirect censorship measures, in some cases only poorly disguised as public health measures. This phenomenon could be observed, among others, in sub-Saharan Africa (e. g. in Tanzania) or Latin America, where journalists have been arbitrarily detained in Nicaragua and Venezuela."

KAS produced a series of four related videos in which experts, including staff from KAS Regional Programmes, reflect on the impact of COVD-19 on news media in Germany, sub-Saharan Africa, the US, and Latin America. These can be accessed here. (The video on Latin America can also be viewed below).