<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><sec><h3>Objectives</h3><p>Media reporting has an influential role in panic buying (PB). We aimed to evaluate the media portrayal of PB during this COVID-19 pandemic.</p></sec><sec><h3>Methods</h3><p>We searched, collected, and analysed the news reports from the English media discussing the PB events. The search was done between 23 and 30 May 2020.</p></sec><sec><h3>Results</h3><p>A total of 525 news reports were analysed. Approximately half (49.3%) discussed the government action to handle the situation, 36.4% discussed the expert opinion regarding PB, 20.6% discussed the psychology of PB, 21.5% discussed the rumours, and 18.5% suggested remedial measures. Concerning the negative aspects, 96.6% of the titles mentioned panic buying, 75.4% mentioned the cause, and 62.3% mentioned the photos of empty shelves. The media in low–middle-income countries are 1.5 times more likely to include expert opinion (p = 0.03), 2.1 times more likely to discuss rumours regarding PB (p = 0.001), almost thrice more likely to report the cause of PB (p = 0.001), and thrice more likely to mention its impact (p = 0.001).</p></sec><sec><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Media has been portraying more negative aspects of PB. Further, there are variations in reporting patterns between high-income and low–middle-income countries.</p></sec></abstract>

ObjectivesMedia reporting has an influential role in panic buying (PB). We aimed to evaluate the media portrayal of PB during this COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsWe searched, collected, and analysed the news reports from the English media discussing the PB events. The search was done between 23 and 30 May 2020.ResultsA total of 525 news reports were analysed. Approximately half (49.3%) discussed the government action to handle the situation, 36.4% discussed the expert opinion regarding PB, 20.6% discussed the psychology of PB, 21.5% discussed the rumours, and 18.5% suggested remedial measures. Concerning the negative aspects, 96.6% of the titles mentioned panic buying, 75.4% mentioned the cause, and 62.3% mentioned the photos of empty shelves. The media in low–middle-income countries are 1.5 times more likely to include expert opinion (p = 0.03), 2.1 times more likely to discuss rumours regarding PB (p = 0.001), almost thrice more likely to report the cause of PB (p = 0.001), and thrice more likely to mention its impact (p = 0.001).ConclusionMedia has been portraying more negative aspects of PB. Further, there are variations in reporting patterns between high-income and low–middle-income countries.

Media portrayal of panic buying: A content analysis of online news portals

Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health Nursing

School of Allied Health, Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine, and Social Care

Global Psychiatry

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Media portrayal of panic buying: A content analysis of online news portals"}

ObjectivesMedia reporting has an influential role in panic buying (PB). We aimed to evaluate the media portrayal of PB during this COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsWe...

Media portrayal of panic buying: A content analysis of online news portals

Data publikacji: 18 wrz 2020

Zakres stron: -

Otrzymano: 29 lip 2020

Przyjęty: 15 sie 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gp-2020-0022

Słowa kluczowe
Panic buying, media report, content analysis

© 2020 S.M. Yasir Arafat et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Media portrayal of panic buying: A content analysis of online news portals

Data publikacji: 18 wrz 2020

Zakres stron: -

Otrzymano: 29 lip 2020

Przyjęty: 15 sie 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gp-2020-0022

Słowa kluczowePanic buying, media report, content analysis

© 2020 S.M. Yasir Arafat et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Słowa kluczowe
Panic buying, media report, content analysis