This could be the most hyperreal event in world history: never before has the distance between the reality of an event and the media construction of it been greater.
Thus it's very important to be aware of what the main narratives about Coronavirus are. Here I present a first thoughts analysis of some of the mainstream media narrative surrounding Covid-19. I see 13 in total:
Panic and Risk
Enforcing the importance of social control
'The War footing'
New villains
Noble citizen surveillers
Celebrities 'like us' in isolation
Sharing ‘isolation coping strategies’, while staying isolated
Victims: Private tragedies made public
New heroes (frontline workers and volunteers, especially NHS workers)
The importance of trusting medical experts/ technical solutions to Covid-19
The economic impact/ bailout of covid-19/ ‘pulling through this together’
Blaming other countries or poor migrants
I might change these, there might be overlap, this will evolve over time!
▶️ 3Speak