Assessment of Media Coverage of Covid-19: A Study of the Daily Graphic

Abstract

The world has had its hit of another global health menace with the emergence of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The disease was first identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and was suspected of being zoonotic. On January 30, 2020 a month later, the novel virus was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2020). The newness of the disease and the rate of spread has become alarming and people are interested in gathering all information on the novel coronavirus. Public health officials are working to communicate crucial information to the public so that individuals can take the needed precautions and government plan and respond accordingly. Scientist have been working to clarify the characteristics of the virus, including transmissibility, death rate and origin (Perlman, 2020).