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Thesis - Maggie Prosser.pdf (654.19 KB)

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The Media's Role in Risk Society: COVID-19 Coverage Through Beck's Modernity Theory

Prosser, Maggie
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1619188596448293

Abstract Details

2021, Bachelor of Science of Journalism (BSJ), Ohio University, Journalism.
Contemporary sociologist Ulrich Beck observed society inching toward an age of modernity characterized by increasingly low probability-high consequence risks. In modern-day “risk society,” industrialism has exacerbated natural resources, strained geopolitics, and degraded social welfare. Consequences of modernity — economic inequality, health inequality, resource deficits — challenge institutional control and leave society vulnerable. Now more than ever, there is an ethos of risk and a sense of uncertainty and insecurity on the precipice of social transformation. In late 2019 and early 2020, the world experienced outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus, aptly named COVID-19, which devolved into a pandemic that has infected more than 144 million people and killed 3 million at the time of publication. Journalists have been at the forefront of this public health crisis, shaping public opinion and perception of health risks. Journalism has proved critical in holding public officials accountable and shielding audiences from disinformation, despite a growing war on the media. This thesis examined the role of the media during pandemics, epidemics, and public health crises using narrative and historical data from past crises. It concluded that coverage of previous emerging infectious diseases and COVID-19 needs amelioration. Ultimately, this paper prescribes recommendations for practitioners to better address the needs of modernity and the role media will fulfill in a future risk society.
Thomas Suddes, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Victoria LaPoe, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
61 p.
Journalism
Journalism, COVID-19, Risk Society

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Citations

  • Prosser, M. (2021). The Media's Role in Risk Society: COVID-19 Coverage Through Beck's Modernity Theory [Undergraduate thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1619188596448293

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Prosser, Maggie. The Media's Role in Risk Society: COVID-19 Coverage Through Beck's Modernity Theory. 2021. Ohio University, Undergraduate thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1619188596448293.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Prosser, Maggie. "The Media's Role in Risk Society: COVID-19 Coverage Through Beck's Modernity Theory." Undergraduate thesis, Ohio University, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1619188596448293

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ouhonors1619188596448293
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This open access ETD is published by Ohio University Honors Tutorial College and OhioLINK.