E&Z-PM 03/2021 | TV coverage in the Corona year: Food industry still in the focus of critical media
How has the 2020 Corona Year impacted TV coverage of food?
Study by Engel & Zimmermann on more than 800 TV reports in 2020 / Proportion of critical reports declines for the first time – but only in percentage terms / Beverage industry under particular scrutiny
Less criticism - But only in percentage terms
Gauting near Munich, in March 2021. the interest of the TV media in the food industry was also in the Corona year 2020 unbroken large: altogether 809 contributions documented and evaluated the management consultation for communication and PR-agency angel & Zimmermann from Gauting near Munich in the past year. That is on average more than 15 contributions per week approximately around food, nutrition or agriculture. While the Pandemie was in the past year undisputedly the coining topic in the public and in the media, it hardly played a role in the reports over the food industry: In the reports, documentations and consumer pieces (the nachrichtliche, mostly daily current reporting did not find with the analysis consideration) it went only in 6% of the contributions directly or indirectly around Corona. “On balance, the coverage was more balanced than in previous years, although the mechanisms of how the industry is reported on have not changed,” notes Christian Wolfram, Head of Unit Food at Engel & Zimmermann. “Although hardly any television crew was able to film in a food plant, the approach and broadcast formats remained the same in the Corona year: quality or taste comparisons, the exposure of supposed tricks of the industry and health tips. What’s encouraging is that the scandalizing has decreased slightly overall.” …