The Media in Times of the Pandemic – Comparing Viewing Figures and Interactions of Serious, Tabloid and Conspiracy Media on Facebook During the Covid-19 Pandemic

The pandemic of the novel coronavirus attracted media attention which brought daily news about the number of active cases as well as hospitalised patients and deaths. The media also communicated information about measures against the spread of the coronavirus and covered the situation in other countries and around the world. Besides news, media launched broadcasts in traditional media (TV and radio) and so-called special broadcasts on both the TV and the radio starring epidemiologists, virologists as well as experts in diagnostics or prevention against COVID-19. These were especially the online media which provided large coverage and mainly news portals forming specific sections dealing with the coronavirus topic. The paper analyses viewing figures of selected serious, tabloid and conspiracy media on Facebook during the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia. It analyses and compares the number of followers, posts and comments which were published, their sharing as well as the total number of interactions of specific media. The author also verifies the impact of three outbreaks of COVID-19 on the number of interactions in serious, tabloid and conspiracy media.