期刊名称：Kotuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online
印刷版ISSN：1177-083X
出版年度：2021
卷号：16
期号：2
页码：419-431
DOI：10.1080/1177083X.2021.1905006
语种：English
出版社：Taylor and Francis Ltd
摘要：News media have an important social role during times of disruption including national emergencies. This paper bears witness to the 21 New Zealanders who died during the first lockdown due to COVID-19 by critically examining the nature of their portrayal in mainstream newspapers. We searched Knowledgebasket for newspapers published between 28 February 2020 and 13 May 2020 relating to COVID-19 deaths. Of the 147 included articles, 50 were selected for in-depth thematic analysis. Our key finding is that COVID-19 made the death of ordinary older New Zealanders newsworthy, albeit in a way that distinguished individuals by residential status. This is reflected in the themes identified: (1) Unexpected community deaths; (2) Inevitable aged residential care deaths; (3) Justification for lockdown measures. We conclude that New Zealand journalists played an important advocacy role in justifying New Zealand’s ‘go hard go early’ approach through the largely compassionate coverage of older people’s deaths.
关键词：COVID-19
;death
;media analysis
;newspapers
;aged residential care
