Pleased to share with you Eva Nieto McAvoy‘s and my study, ‘Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on the arts and cultural sector: British newspaper reporting of the Culture Recovery Fund,’ published by the AHRC-funded Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (London: Nesta).

Here is the abstract:

This Discussion Paper presents the findings of a study examining British
newspaper coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the cultural and
creative industries (CCIs) from 1 January to 31 December 2020 (n.4,162). It
assesses the broad contours of this coverage before focusing on a pivotal week
– 3 to 10 July – where we find the highest concentration of items reporting on
the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) and on freelancers in the arts and cultural
sector (n.215). We explore the following questions: (1) how are issues central to
the Culture Recovery Fund and freelancers framed / represented in the
coverage? (2) How is the government response to the crisis in the cultural and
creative industries characterised and responsibility attributed?; (3) what actors
(sectors, institutions, locations) are present in the coverage, which ones are the
key sources, and how are their views represented? We found that the framing of
the issues in news items mostly offered narrow parameters of discussion, proving
overly reliant upon official press releases, and affording space to a limited range
of voices.

Available for free here. All comments and suggestions welcome!