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Guo H, Zhang J, Feng S, Zhou Y, Fan A, Wang M. Information dissemination during public health emergencies: analysing the international flow of COVID-19-related news. DISASTERS 2023; 47:995-1024. [PMID: 37115625 DOI: 10.1111/disa.12587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
A large-scale exchange of information between media across national borders is frequently observed when a worldwide public health emergency occurs. This study investigated the global news citation network in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic by analysing the network structure at different levels to identify important nodes and the relationships among news organisations. The results show that COVID-19-related international news flow had a complex and unequal pattern, with a few countries and media outlets occupying a prominent place in the network and three media groups played key but different roles in disseminating the news. It was jointly influenced by national traits, the relatedness between countries, and the pandemic emergency with public health risks. From a global perspective, the media of the United States, mainland China, and the United Kingdom played the most important parts in collaboration within the world media system in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hua Guo
- Associate Professor in information science at the Business School, Hohai University, China
| | - Jiandong Zhang
- Research Assistant at the Business School, Hohai University, China
| | - Shihui Feng
- Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Yanli Zhou
- Master's student at the Business School, Hohai University, China
| | - Anrong Fan
- Research Assistant at the Business School, Nankai University, China
| | - Minhong Wang
- Professor and Director of the KM&EL Lab at the Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Eastern Scholar Chair Professor at East China Normal University, China
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Wang B, Liang B, Chen Q, Wang S, Wang S, Huang Z, Long Y, Wu Q, Xu S, Jinna P, Yang F, Ming WK, Liu Q. COVID-19 Related Early Google Search Behavior and Health Communication in the United States: Panel Data Analysis on Health Measures. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2023; 20:3007. [PMID: 36833701 PMCID: PMC9958808 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20043007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2022] [Revised: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/04/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 outbreak at the end of December 2019 spread rapidly all around the world. The objective of this study is to investigate and understand the relationship between public health measures and the development of the pandemic through Google search behaviors in the United States. Our collected data includes Google search queries related to COVID-19 from 1 January to 4 April 2020. After using unit root tests (ADF test and PP test) to examine the stationary and a Hausman test to choose a random effect model, a panel data analysis is conducted to investigate the key query terms with the newly added cases. In addition, a full sample regression and two sub-sample regressions are proposed to explain: (1) The changes in COVID-19 cases number are partly related to search variables related to treatments and medical resources, such as ventilators, hospitals, and masks, which correlate positively with the number of new cases. In contrast, regarding public health measures, social distancing, lockdown, stay-at-home, and self-isolation measures were negatively associated with the number of new cases in the US. (2) In mild states, which ranked one to twenty by the average daily new cases from least to most in 50 states, the query terms about public health measures (quarantine, lockdown, and self-isolation) have a significant negative correlation with the number of new cases. However, only the query terms about lockdown and self-isolation are also negatively associated with the number of new cases in serious states (states ranking 31 to 50). Furthermore, public health measures taken by the government during the COVID-19 outbreak are closely related to the situation of controlling the pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Binhui Wang
- School of Management, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
| | - Beiting Liang
- College of Economics, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
| | - Qiuyi Chen
- School of Journalism, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Shu Wang
- Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
- Laboratory of Biomass and Green Technologies, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium
| | - Siyi Wang
- Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
| | - Zhongguo Huang
- Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
| | - Yi Long
- Law School of Artificial Intelligence, Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai 201701, China
| | - Qili Wu
- School of Journalism and Communication, Jinan University National Media Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
| | - Shulin Xu
- School of Economic, Guangzhou College of Commerce, Guangzhou 511363, China
| | - Pranay Jinna
- School of Business, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222, USA
| | - Fan Yang
- Communication Department, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222, USA
| | - Wai-Kit Ming
- Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
- Department of Infectious Diseases and Public Health, Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Science, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Qian Liu
- School of Journalism and Communication, Jinan University National Media Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
- School of Business, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222, USA
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Guo H, Zhang J, Feng S, Chen B, Wang M. Risk Communication in the Alert Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Analysis of News Flow at National and Global Levels. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:ijerph19159588. [PMID: 35954944 PMCID: PMC9368721 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19159588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2022] [Revised: 07/29/2022] [Accepted: 08/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
This study examined the global media citation network of COVID-19-related news at two stages of the pandemic alert phase, i.e., the national level alert stage and the global level alert stage. The findings reveal that the small-world pattern and scale-free property of media citation networks contributed to the rapid spread of COVID-19-related news around the world. Within the networks, a small number of media outlets from a few countries formed the backbone of the network to control the risk communication; meanwhile, many media of geographical and cultural similarities formed cross-border collaborative cliques in the periphery of the network. When the alert phase escalated from the national level to the global level, the network demonstrated a number of changes. The findings contribute to the understanding of risk communication for international public health emergencies by taking into account the network perspective and evolutionary nature of public health emergencies in analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hua Guo
- Business School, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China
| | - Jiandong Zhang
- Business School, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China
| | - Shihui Feng
- Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Boyin Chen
- Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Minhong Wang
- Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
- Department of Educational Information Technology, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
- Correspondence:
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