Abstract

There have been contradictory observations and discussions on journalistic roles in covering public health crises, such as media hype/mediatization, politicization, and polarization or public mobilizers and educators. This paper investigates the journalistic roles and practices in South Korea during 2020, focusing on the differences and similarities between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 news stories. As part of the second wave Journalistic Role Performance (JRP) Project, we conducted a content analysis of news stories collected from television and radio broadcasts, newspapers, and online news media (n = 3959). The study found that while the tendency of media hype/mediatization and political polarization were partially persistent in COVID-19 stories, the public mobilizer and educator role became significantly higher in COVID-19 coverage. The results indicate that while journalists adhered to habitual journalistic practices structured within the highly competitive and politically polarized South Korean media system, they also adopted different practices when covering the pandemic, regardless of their ideological affiliations. This study contributes to understanding how journalists exhibit both continuity and variability in their roles and practices within specific contexts, such as during the pandemic.