Stories About Lockdown Study, Black Lives Matter Omitted By Left and Center Media
Arguably, both of these stories deserve coverage due to being developments in two major storylines that have dominated the press since 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.
People around the world were locked down inside their homes for weeks or months at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. One third of the world was in some kind of lockdown in April 2020, and Australia has remained one of the most locked-down countries in the world. News outlets that repeatedly referred to Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 Map to report case numbers — which fed support for lockdowns — have not covered the new study.
From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, commentators and politicians on the right were more likely to question the use of lockdowns to control the virus, while commentators, media outlets and politicians on the left were more likely to support lockdowns. Democratic governors were quicker to issue stay-at-home orders, and governors in red states like Florida and Texas were heavily criticized for declining to re-implement lockdowns in 2021. In 2020, AllSides wrote about how the media was more likely to frame anti-lockdown protesters negatively/as contributing to viral spread, while framing racial justice protests positively. It was just another way the left/right divide manifested in the United States.
Arguably, both of these stories deserve coverage due to being developments in two major storylines that have dominated the press since 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.
People around the world were locked down inside their homes for weeks or months at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. One third of the world was in some kind of lockdown in April 2020, and Australia has remained one of the most locked-down countries in the world. News outlets that repeatedly referred to Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 Map to report case numbers — which fed support for lockdowns — have not covered the new study.
From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, commentators and politicians on the right were more likely to question the use of lockdowns to control the virus, while commentators, media outlets and politicians on the left were more likely to support lockdowns. Democratic governors were quicker to issue stay-at-home orders, and governors in red states like Florida and Texas were heavily criticized for declining to re-implement lockdowns in 2021. In 2020, AllSides wrote about how the media was more likely to frame anti-lockdown protesters negatively/as contributing to viral spread, while framing racial justice protests positively. It was just another way the left/right divide manifested in the United States.
