Coverage of COVID-19 in Honduras’s Four Major Newspapers: The Case of Patient Zero

Abstract

In Honduras, in March 2020, laboratory tests confirmed and officially reported the first case of COVID-19, which was designated as “patient zero.” This event sparked chaos and uncertainty among the population, with a flood of information related to the disease. In this regard, this study analyzes the coverage of the country’s four major newspapers: El Heraldo, La Prensa, La Tribuna, and El Tiempo. It was evident that news stories were published with sensational and distressing headlines; furthermore, the media’s coverage was characterized by a mix of informative, sensationalist, and alarmist reporting. Consequently, after analyzing these news stories and the media’s approach, it was determined that there was no presence of fake news in journalistic sources regarding the case study. The media played an important role during the crisis; however, in some cases, there were initial errors or incomplete and unreliable information.