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  • News article
  • 1 April 2020
  • 3 min read

COVID-19 media surveillance - 1 April 2020

This media surveillance collects articles reported through publicly available web sites.

Geolocations mentioned in coronavirus media coverage showing large clusters of news reports.
Geolocations mentioned in coronavirus media coverage showing large clusters of news reports.
© European Union, 2020, EMM/MEDISYS

This media surveillance collects articles reported through publicly available web sites.

It is created with the Europe Media Monitor (EMM).

The selection and placement of stories are determined automatically by a computer program.

Headlines

Twitter

The most retweeted items were:

  • Bill Gates: Here’s how to make up for lost time on covid-19 (washingtonpost)
  • McConnell: Impeachment distracted government from coronavirus threat (thehill)
  • Impeachment didn’t distract from coronavirus preparations. Trump did. (washingtonpost)
  • Trump rejects Obamacare special enrollment period amid pandemic (politico)
  • Mexico receives 50 million COVID-19 test kits from China (eluniversal)

The most retweeted English sources were the New York Times, CNN, the Washington Post and Youtube

Okdiario, Russia Today (Spanish Version) and El Diario and Le Monde and Le Parisien were among the most retweeted Spanish and French sources, respectively.

Extracted Quotes

Ursula von der Leyen (European Commission, President):

"It's of outmost importance that emergency measures are not at the expense of our fundamental principles and values. Democracy cannot work without free and independent media. Respect of freedom of expression and legal certainty are essential in these uncertain times."

Donald Trump (USA, President):

"Nobody knew how contagious this was"; "I don’t think any doctor new it at the time. People have not seen anything like this."

Fact Check

Fact checked: anti-EU narratives

  • It is not true that Huawei stopped sending masks to Spain because of an article by High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell (newtral).

Fact checked: fear mongering

  • It is not true that the WHO has decreed the “suspension of any and all medical activities” (newtral).

Fact checked: prevention and treatment

  • Helicopters are not spraying disinfectants to try to eradicate coronavirus (teyit).
  • Inhaling hot water, blasting your nose and mouth with hot air from a hair dryer and drinking tea do not cure COVID-19 (factcrescendo, verificado, teyit).
  • It is not true that Trump announced that millions of doses of a COVID-19 vaccine will be marketed in the next few days (newtral). A vaccine against the novel coronavirus has not been found yet (lasillavacia).

Fact checked: conspiracy theories

  • There is no scientific connection between the coronavirus outbreak and the implementation of 5G technology (boomlive).
  • The coronavirus pandemic was not predicted in a Matt Damon movie (maldita).

Download PDF

  • 2 FEBRUARY 2022
coronavirus_media_analysis_20200401hub.pdf

Contact

Mail to JRC-EMM-SUPPORTatec [dot] europa [dot] eu (subject: COVID-19%20media%20surveillance) (JRC-EMM-SUPPORT[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)

Related Content

Europe Media Monitor (EMM)

Medical Information System - MEDISYS

Details

Publication date
1 April 2020