Media Frames of COVID-19 Pandemic

In their article, “Media Frames of COVID-19 Pandemic,” Serbian communication researchers Ljiljana Lj. Bulatović and Goran Bulatović examine how the media shaped public understanding of the COVID-19 crisis. They argue that journalists bear a moral and ethical responsibility to disseminate accurate, impartial information—an imperative made more urgent by the pandemic. Instead, they find that many media outlets relied on assumptions, emotional appeals, and social bias, contributing to what the World Health Organization terms an “infodemic.” This saturation of conflicting narratives created confusion and mistrust, as the public struggled to distinguish credible journalism from misinformation. The authors further address the tension between public health measures—such as movement restrictions and bans on gatherings—and civil liberties, noting that such conditions increased reliance on social media as a primary source of information.

This overreliance, coupled with low media literacy, fueled widespread distrust in both media institutions and the state. The Bulatovićs highlight a critical gap: many media consumers are unequipped to interpret news with skepticism or to recognize journalistic standards of objectivity. Their analysis of media storytelling during COVID-19 emphasizes the political and social consequences of information failure. To counteract the damage, they call for systemic improvements: public education in media literacy, stricter regulation of news content, and a renewed commitment to professional ethics in journalism. The article contributes to COVID-19 narrative scholarship by framing media discourse not merely as reportage, but as a contested site of public meaning-making under crisis.