Issue Fatigue Over the Course of the Covid-19 Pandemic
During times of uncertainty, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, people tend to cope through active information seeking. However, information overexposure can also lead to issue fatigue, a state in which recipients are increasingly annoyed and may actively avoid further information on this specific issu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Zurich, IKMZ – Department of Communication and Media Research
2023-11-01
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| Series: | European Journal of Health Communication (EJHC) |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ejhc.org/article/view/3998 |
| _version_ | 1797517779592544256 |
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| author | Annemarie Wiedicke Paula Stehr Constanze Rossmann |
| author_facet | Annemarie Wiedicke Paula Stehr Constanze Rossmann |
| author_sort | Annemarie Wiedicke |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
During times of uncertainty, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, people tend to cope through active information seeking. However, information overexposure can also lead to issue fatigue, a state in which recipients are increasingly annoyed and may actively avoid further information on this specific issue. Against this backdrop, we were interested in (1) whether people in Germany have experienced Covid-19 related issue fatigue over the course of the pandemic, (2) and if so, how Covid-19 information behaviour may have contributed to it, and (3) to what extent TV news coverage exhibits characteristics that are considered to contribute to recipients’ issue fatigue. To address these questions, we combined a two-wave panel survey (2020) and a cross-sectional survey (2021) of the German population with a quantitative content analysis of Covid-19 related TV news (2020 and 2021). The results show an increase in issue fatigue over time. However, there was no evidence indicating that people’s Covid-19 information behaviour has contributed to this. Rather, both information seeking and the reception of public TV news were negatively related to issue fatigue. Notably, TV news coverage showed characteristics that are considered determinants of issue fatigue, including its extent and an overall ambivalent-to-negative tone.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T07:21:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-293c9afcf8ef4ace9545da135b9ef173 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-5903 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T07:21:00Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | University of Zurich, IKMZ – Department of Communication and Media Research |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of Health Communication (EJHC) |
| spelling | doaj.art-293c9afcf8ef4ace9545da135b9ef1732023-11-22T14:36:26ZengUniversity of Zurich, IKMZ – Department of Communication and Media ResearchEuropean Journal of Health Communication (EJHC)2673-59032023-11-014310.47368/ejhc.2023.307Issue Fatigue Over the Course of the Covid-19 PandemicAnnemarie Wiedicke0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1890-9699Paula Stehr1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0767-8335Constanze Rossmann2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4068-4369Institute for Media Research, Technical University of Chemnitz, GermanyDepartment of Media and Communication, LMU Munich, GermanyDepartment of Media and Communication, LMU Munich, Germany During times of uncertainty, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, people tend to cope through active information seeking. However, information overexposure can also lead to issue fatigue, a state in which recipients are increasingly annoyed and may actively avoid further information on this specific issue. Against this backdrop, we were interested in (1) whether people in Germany have experienced Covid-19 related issue fatigue over the course of the pandemic, (2) and if so, how Covid-19 information behaviour may have contributed to it, and (3) to what extent TV news coverage exhibits characteristics that are considered to contribute to recipients’ issue fatigue. To address these questions, we combined a two-wave panel survey (2020) and a cross-sectional survey (2021) of the German population with a quantitative content analysis of Covid-19 related TV news (2020 and 2021). The results show an increase in issue fatigue over time. However, there was no evidence indicating that people’s Covid-19 information behaviour has contributed to this. Rather, both information seeking and the reception of public TV news were negatively related to issue fatigue. Notably, TV news coverage showed characteristics that are considered determinants of issue fatigue, including its extent and an overall ambivalent-to-negative tone. https://ejhc.org/article/view/3998issue fatigueinformation behaviournews coveragenews receptionCovid-19 |
| spellingShingle | Annemarie Wiedicke Paula Stehr Constanze Rossmann Issue Fatigue Over the Course of the Covid-19 Pandemic European Journal of Health Communication (EJHC) issue fatigue information behaviour news coverage news reception Covid-19 |
| title | Issue Fatigue Over the Course of the Covid-19 Pandemic |
| title_full | Issue Fatigue Over the Course of the Covid-19 Pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Issue Fatigue Over the Course of the Covid-19 Pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Issue Fatigue Over the Course of the Covid-19 Pandemic |
| title_short | Issue Fatigue Over the Course of the Covid-19 Pandemic |
| title_sort | issue fatigue over the course of the covid 19 pandemic |
| topic | issue fatigue information behaviour news coverage news reception Covid-19 |
| url | https://ejhc.org/article/view/3998 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT annemariewiedicke issuefatigueoverthecourseofthecovid19pandemic AT paulastehr issuefatigueoverthecourseofthecovid19pandemic AT constanzerossmann issuefatigueoverthecourseofthecovid19pandemic |