The Media Discourse of the Corona Pandemic. A Comparative Study on Germany and the USA in 2020

Seminar paper from the year 2020 in the subject Communications - Media and Politics, Politic Communications, grade: 2,0, University of Erfurt, language: English, abstract: The aim of this term paper is to give an overview on the media discourse of the Corona pandemic in order to understand the national media discourse and to understand how an international crisis is presented in the national media by two different states. Furthermore, the paper aims to find out how the reporting on a health crisis develops over time and can be characterized.

Therefore, the following research questions are posed: How is the media discourse on the Corona pandemic characterized in each national state? What similarities and differences can be identified in reporting? Which patterns can be identified in the media discourse during crisis times?

Therefore, the scope of the study will only analyse which the sentiment, frames and topics the media used to present the Corona crisis in their news coverage and not how the public perceived the crisis. The main focus is the media discourse itself.