Articulations of Care

Abstract

This chapter explores cultural interpretations of care by examining five years (2018-2022) of content published in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Over the last five years, as the United States faced COVID-19, people sought guidance regarding the pandemic itself as well as government decisions and socio-economic impacts by reading articles and letters published in these papers. The research looks at news coverage on the concept of care two years prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, during the height of the pandemic, and two years post-pandemic, and the authors analyze how these newspapers framed care across that time period. Through this content analysis, they identified four themes: breakdowns and breakthroughs, currency concerns, compassionate care, and heroes and villains. An exploration of these themes highlights when care is discussed by these news outlets and how, when analyses of particular forms of care are set aside, and how the news media serves as a central player in structuring understandings of care.