Attitudes of University Students Towards the Role of the Written Press in Raising Awareness of the Developments of COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis in Algeria

Abstract

The present study mainly aimed to monitor university students ’attitudes towards the role of the written press in raising awareness of the developments of the Corona pandemic (COVID19) crisis in Algeria, by getting acquainted with the views of a sample of students of Ibn Khaldoun University in Algeria about the media content of Algerian newspapers related to its coverage of the developments of the epidemic crisis, in the period from the beginning of March to the end of December 2020. The study sample amounted to 160 students (75% females and 25% males), who were randomly selected from a statistical community made up of (30828) students.

Using the analytical statistical approach, and based on a questionnaire prepared by the researcher, the study reached a set of results, the most important of which were:

University students affirmed by 96% that the Algerian written media was not late to other types of audiovisual media in contributing to awareness of the Corona crisis, but at the same time they indicated by 80% that the treatment was not at the required level, in terms of the following points: Correct medical information About the Corona crisis, and accurate statistics about the number of people infected with Coronavirus in Algeria, as well as using the appropriate speech and space to raise awareness of the importance of respecting social distancing measures.

In the wake of these results, the researcher presented a set of recommendations, on top of which is the need for the written press in Algeria to develop its strategies in dealing with such crises, by creating branches of the so-called health journalism, and training journalists in these fields.