Comparative study of news coverage of the Coronavirus crisis in the IRINN and BBC Farsi

The prevalence of the Covid 19 and the need for accurate information about disease conditions and public awareness has shown the importance of media, especially the mass media, in managing this emerging crisis. This study aimed to identify the news coverage of the Covid 19 outbreak in IRINN and the BBC Farsi channel and to address the strategies of news media in the face of this global crisis. For this purpose, and based on the theories of agenda-setting and framing, news related to Covid 19 in two important news bulletins ( 13 hours IRINN and 18 hours of BBC Farsi channel) were selected and analyzed from September 22, 2016, to March 1, 2017. According to the research findings, IRINN has considered four strategies: “ society calming “, “demanding “, “informing “, and “ paying attention to health communication “ for the initial confrontation with the Corona crisis. On the other hand, the BBC Farsi in its coverage of the Coronavirus outbreak in Iran has taken an “ ambiguous “ and “ public distrust “ approach to the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, relying on its “ information strategy. “ Doubting the accuracy of daily statistics announced by the Ministry of Health of Iran “ and “ inducing inability to manage “ are among the components of this distrust in the face of the crisis. In addition to publishing daily statistics on coronary heart disease, IRINN followed the popular demands, calmed society, addressed issues and problems related to the Coronavirus in various fields, especially the economic field, and continuously reviewed the existing problems and measures taken.