Abstract

News reports on the Covid-19 pandemic have largely been data-driven, with coverage on infection numbers, deaths, recoveries, tests administered, economic impacts and vaccine trials; data for these stories tend to be disseminated from top-down, by governments and public health organizations, and often viewed as scientific and precise. This article examines critically the “objective” nature of data and discusses the social constructionist nature of data journalism, where data access and presentation may be shaped by power and social relations. This study focuses on Singapore, a global city in Asia that received praise in international media at the start of the pandemic when it was able to keep its infection numbers low while other cities went into lockdown; the turning point came when numerous infection clusters developed in the migrant worker dormitories on the island. Through in-depth interviews with newsworkers, this study maps out the potential extent of state influence on press coverage and journalistic sensibilities during the coronavirus pandemic through the stages of news production – from the news gathering and selection stages, to the newswriting and presentation stage – and offers an assessment of how data “objectivity” may be a powerful tool to shape public opinion in times of crisis.

摘要

关于 Covid-19 大流行的新闻报道主要是由数据驱动的，涵盖了感染人数、死亡人数、康复情况、所进行的测试、经济影响和疫苗试验；这些故事的数据往往由政府和公共卫生组织自上而下传播，并且通常被认为是科学和精确的。本文批判性地研究了数据的“客观”性质，并讨论了数据新闻的社会建构主义性质，其中数据访问和呈现可能受权力和社会关系的影响。这项研究的重点是新加坡，这个亚洲的全球城市在大流行开始时受到国际媒体的赞扬，当时它能够在其他城市被封锁的情况下将感染人数保持在较低水平；当岛上的农民工宿舍出现大量感染群时，转折点就出现了。通过对新闻工作者的深入采访，本研究通过新闻制作的各个阶段——从新闻收集和选择阶段，到新闻写作和展示阶段，描绘了在冠状病毒大流行期间国家对新闻报道和新闻敏感性的潜在影响程度。并评估数据“客观性”如何成为在危机时期塑造公众舆论的有力工具。