ABSTRACT

Unlike previous pandemics and epidemics, the ever-mutating coronavirus (also known as COVID-19) has attracted the attention of both the mainstream and peripheral journalistic actors across the globe. Similar to professional journalists, peripheral actors produced and circulated locally specific public health information on COVID-19 and challenged state media narratives. This article, which focuses on Zimbabwe, attempts to critically analyse the ways in which mainstream and peripheral journalistic actors complemented and competed against each other in their bid to produce and circulate credible and truthful information about the COVID-19. The article employs a mix of in-depth interviews with mainstream and peripheral journalistic actors as well as qualitative content analysis of news articles published by The Herald and Twitter posts published by peripheral actors (including public intellectuals, social media influencers, ordinary people) popularly known as Twimbos (Zimbabweans on Twitter). Although public health communication was centralised by the government bodies, this article provides new evidence of how peripheral journalistic actors played an instrumental role in educating and providing life-saving information about the pandemic as well as exposing multiple government failures in handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

摘要

与以前的流行病和流行病不同，不断变异的冠状病毒（也称为 COVID-19）吸引了全球主流和外围新闻工作者的关注。与专业记者类似，外围行为者制作和传播有关 COVID-19 的当地特定公共卫生信息，并挑战国家媒体的叙述。本文重点关注津巴布韦，试图批判性地分析主流和外围新闻参与者在生产和传播有关 COVID-19 的可信和真实信息时相互补充和竞争的方式。这篇文章结合了对主流和外围新闻演员的深入采访以及对《先驱报》发表的新闻文章的定性内容分析以及由通常被称为 Twimbos（Twitter 上的津巴布韦人）的外围参与者（包括公共知识分子、社交媒体影响者、普通民众）发布的 Twitter 帖子。尽管公共卫生传播由政府机构集中，但本文提供了新证据，证明外围新闻工作者如何在教育和提供有关大流行的救生信息以及揭露政府在处理 COVID-19 大流行方面的多次失败方面发挥了重要作用.