Analyzing Xenophobia and Media Coverage during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This report analyzes the impact of xenophobia and media coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores how xenophobia, particularly towards people of Chinese descent, influenced the initial response, leading to discrimination and racial incidents. The report highlights how media coverage, including reports of racist attacks and the use of terms like "Chinese Virus," exacerbated these issues. It also examines the impact on individuals of East Asian descent, detailing instances of discrimination in everyday services. The report references sources to support its claims, emphasizing the role of media in shaping public perception and the resulting consequences during the pandemic.

AMERICAN HISTORY

1
Xenophobia and media coverage
Xenophobia plays a critical role in the response to and media coverage of the COVID-19
pandemic. This can be understood in terms of the fact that it was the Xenophobia about the
Chinese people that started the response. People started staying away from the people that
had Chinese appearance i.e. all the people from China, Japan and many other countries of
South East Asia. Government also started banning the flights from these countries and special
quarantine centres was being developed. People also started avoided meeting to the people
that had Chinese appearance (Kim, 2020).
Media also gained attention when the American people started saying against the Chinese
people. Many of the racial comments and misbehaviour incidents were reported from
different parts of America. Even the President Trump also said Covid-19 as ‘Chinese Virus’.
A large amount of debate started about it that whether the President should make such racial
comments. The media started coverage about how the people having Chinese appearance
were treated by the American people. There were many posts where the services of the cab
drivers, delivery executives were not taken just because they have that Chinese appearance
(Osburn, 2020). People had the Xenophobia that it is these people that are spreading disease
and if they take service from them then they will also get affected by this virus. Media
coverage started to gain attention when they saw that many of the people that are from South-
East Asian nation started posting their experience about how they have been treated by other
people just because of their appearance.

2
References
Kim, Catherine. ""They just see that you’re Asian and you are horrible": How the pandemic
is triggering racist attacks". Vox, 2020. Online. Internet. 30 Mar. 2020. . Available:
https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/3/25/21190655/trump-coronavirus-racist-asian-
americans.
Osburn, Madeline. "The Atlantic Must Stop Covering For The Chinese Communist
Party". The Federalist, 2020. Online. Internet. 30 Mar. 2020. . Available:
https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/16/the-atlantic-must-stop-covering-for-the-chinese-
communist-party/.