Media Narratives and the COVID-19 Pandemic The Asian Experience

This volume investigates mediated lives and media narratives during the Covid-19 pandemic, with Asia as a focus point. It shows how the pandemic has created an unprecedented situation in this globalized world marked by many disruptions in the social, economic, political, and cultural lives of individuals and communities— creating a ‘new normal’. It explores the different media vocabularies of fear, panic, social distancing, and contagion from across Asian nations. It focuses on the role media played as most nations faced lockdowns and unique challenges during the crisis. From healthcare workers to sex workers, from racism to nationalism, from the plight of migrant workers in news reporting to state propaganda, this book brings critical questions confronting media professionals into focus. The volume is of critical interest to scholars and researchers of media and communication studies, politics, especially political communication, social and public policy, and Asian studies.

Introduction Shubhda Arora & Keval J. Kumar   I. Missing and Marginalized Narratives 1. Unrest in the Comments: Voicing the Discontent of Japan’s Foreign Residents in the Comments Sections of Japan Today Christopher J. Hayes 2. Gender, Media and the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Investigation into Missing Gendered Narratives in Indian News Media Shipra Raj 3. The Mask Dilemma: Hierarchy between Two Know-Hows in Chinese-Language Media of Canada Grace Cheng-Ying Lin 4. Missing Media Narratives: COVID’s Impact on Transgender Population in India Shubhda Chaudhary   II. Media Memory and Narratives 5. Masked Presence: COVID-19 and Remembering SARS in Taiwan Jacob F. Tischer 6. Familial Halcyon: Narratives of Nostalgia in the Lockdown Azania Imtiaz Patel   III. Media Bias and Propaganda 7. Taiwan Can Help: COVID-19, The Model Minority State and the Limits of Taiwan-as-Beacon Rhetoric Jamin D. Shih 8. The Myths of Hate: Digital Deception in the (Communal) times of COVID-19 Saesha Kini & G Gyanesh 9. Risk Communication versus Risks in Communication: Efforts of Vietnam Government in Controlling Messages during COVID-19 Pandemic Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen & Nguyen Thanh Mai 10. Modern Hua Mulans in Global Chinese-Speaking Media: Female Frontline Workers as Tools of Propaganda During the COVID-19 Pandemic Ashley Liu and Shuyue Yang   IV. Mainstream and Alternative Narratives 11. Confronting Anti-Asian Bias in the Classroom: Reflections on the Importance of Asian and Asian American Studies in the Wake of COVID-19 Meghan Cai & Kimberly McKee 12. From A Story of Disaster to A Story of Victory: Chinese Media Reports in the COVID-19 Crisis Runya Qiaoan &  Beatrice Gallelli 13. The COVID-19 Pandemic: News Reporting in Malaysia Normahfuzah Ahmad, Awan Ismail & Norsiah Abdul Hamid   V. Narratives of Othering 14. Viral Vilification Gita V. Pai  15. Pandemics, Politics and Religious ‘Others’: Exploring Media Narratives during COVID-19 in India and Pakistan Laraib Niaz    VI. Social Media Narratives 16. Social Media and Vietnamese Undocumented Workers in Thailand During the COVID-19 Pandemic Anthony Le Duc 17. Representations of COVID-19 in West Asia: A Case study of Islamic Republic News Agency’s (IRNA) Instagram account Hamideh Molaei & Maziar Mozaffari Falarti 18. Don’t Panic! Reach Us: Indian Tech Unions’ Social Media Narratives during the Pandemic Rianka Roy  

Shubhda Arora is an Assistant Professor of Communication at the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, India. She is a media sociologist with research interests in Gender, Environmental and Disaster Communication. She has authored research papers and book chapters exploring ideas of Vulnerability and Social Inequality. Keval J. Kumar is an Adjunct Professor at MICA, India. Earlier, he was a Reader at Pune University and Director of SIMC. He is the author of Mass Communication in India (5th Edition), Media Education, Communication and Public Policy, and has contributed to the International Encyclopaedia of Media Literacy and The Handbook of Media Education Research.