How newspaper images position different groups of people in relation to the COVID ‐19 pandemic: A social representations approach

Jari Martikainen · Inari Sakki

59 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Community & Applied Social Psychology

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Communication and COVID-19 Impact Social Representations and Identity Discourse Analysis and Cultural Communication

Abstract

This study examines newspaper photographs related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland. Drawing on social representations theory and positioning theory, we explore social representations and identities related to COVID-19 in mass media using a visual rhetoric analysis. More specifically, we focus on how newspaper photographs construct subjects' positions for different age groups. The data consisted of 4,506 photographs of people published in the two largest Finnish newspapers between 1 January and 31 August 2020. The study identified the following subject positions for the different age groups: (a) children as controlled pupils and joyful players; (b) youth as future-oriented graduates and reckless partygoers; (c) adults as authoritative experts, adaptive professionals, responsible caretakers and active recreationists and (d) elderly people as isolated loners. In addition to echoing the positions of villains, heroes and victims identified in previous studies, the photographs seemed to construct an intergroup divide between adults and the other age groups. Methodologically, this study elaborates the usefulness of the analysis of visual rhetoric in social representations research. Theoretically, we seek to advance the understanding of the role of media, particularly images, in the social construction of knowledge.

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References

1990Positioning: The Discursive Production of Selves 2006Reading Images 2012Visual methodologies : an introduction to researching with visual materials 2020Fighting COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media: Experimental Evidence for a Scalable Accuracy-Nudge Intervention 2020Health-protective behaviour, social media usage and conspiracy belief during the COVID-19 public health emergency 2004Visual Meaning: a Social Semiotic Approach 2006A social representation is not a quiet thing: Exploring the critical potential of social representations theory 1986Social Representations.

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