The news media play an important role in communicating health topics to the public (Hallin & Briggs, 2015, Media, Culture & Society, vol. 37, pp. 85–100). Often journalists are the first to raise an alarm about the safety of vaccines, medicines and pathogen outbreaks including emerging infectious diseases (Joffe, 2011, Public Understanding of Science, vol. 20, pp. 446–460). But the news media have also been accused of distorting, exaggerating or amplifying risks which can lead to fear-mongering and public panic (Klemm et al., 2016). This paper examines how the only national broadsheet newspaper of Australia, The Australian, reported the COVID-19 pandemic from its first media appearance in January 2020 with a focus also on 2 days in February and March 2020. These timeframes coincided with significant coronavirus milestones for Australia, such as the first COVID-19 infection; the first deaths; and the World Health Organisation’s declaration of a global pandemic. This paper found that The Australian coverage was not hyped but measured, with heavy reliance on analysis of the economic fallout of COVID-19. It also found evidence the conservative newspaper used war metaphors to convey the fight against the coronavirus.

新闻媒体在向公众传播健康话题方面发挥着重要作用（Hallin＆Briggs，2015年，媒体，文化与社会，第37卷，第85-100页）。通常，新闻工作者通常是第一个对疫苗，药品和病原体暴发（包括新兴传染病）的安全性发出警报的人（Joffe，2011年，《科学的公共理解》，第20卷，第446-460页）。但是新闻媒体也被指控扭曲，夸大或放大风险，这些风险可能导致散布恐惧和公众恐慌（Klemm等，2016）。本文研究了澳大利亚唯一的全国性宽版报纸《澳大利亚人报》，报道了从2020年1月首次出现在媒体上的COVID-19大流行，也集中在2020年2月和2020年3月的2天。第一次死亡；以及世界卫生组织宣布的全球大流行病。本文发现，澳大利亚的报道并未大肆宣传，而是经过衡量，严重依赖于对COVID-19的经济影响的分析。还发现有证据表明这家保守的报纸使用战争隐喻来传达与冠状病毒的斗争。