Saved by the news? COVID-19 in German news and its relationship with regional mobility behaviour

Abstract

There are substantial differences across regions regarding COVID-19 infections and deaths, which are partly explained by differences in practicing social distancing. In this paper we argue that the portrayal of COVID-19 in regional media might be an important factor in explaining regional differences in social distancing. By using mobility as a proxy, and analysing data on regional news coverage in Germany, we investigate empirically whether the geographical heterogeneity in COVID-19-related news reporting has translated into spatial variations in social distancing. Our results confirm that the frequency of and the element of fear in COVID-19 news have a significant, albeit time-varying, relationship with social distancing.