Abstract
Affected by the spread of coronavirus infection, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games was postponed for one year and held from July to August 2021. As the fourth state of emergency was issued in Tokyo right before the opening, most of the Olympic events were conducted without spectators.
A public opinion survey carried out prior to the Olympics found that people's views were divided as to the pros and cons of hosting the Olympics despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and such situation was reflected in media coverage. Meanwhile, there were some people suggesting, especially on the internet, that “no doubt the media would be covering nothing but the Olympics once it started” and that “the media would probably make an about-face.” Then, how did the media actually report on “the Olympics under the COVID-19 pandemic”? Were there cases that coronavirus-related news was eclipsed by the Olympic coverage?
To investigate them, the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute conducted two quantitative surveys: (1) analysis of eight news programs using the metadata of these TV shows and (2) analysis of front pages of three national newspapers. The analyses finds that the timing of starting reporting Olympics-related news was much earlier, compared to the previous two Olympic Games. It is also revealed that the amount of coronavirus-related reporting increased, especially on television, and replaced Olympic news to be treated as the lead story from the mid of the events due to the fifth wave of COVID-19, but in terms of the total amount of reporting throughout the Olympic Games, the Olympic coverage marked the highest.
