The GDELT Project

How Television News Mentions Of Covid-19 Terminology Stacks Up Against Dictionary Searches

The Economist's Daily Chart published a fascinating set of charts last week tracing elevated dictionary lookups on Merriam Webster's site for various terms that have featured prominently in the Covid-19 discourse. This got us wondering how those same terms have stacked up on television news. The following graphs trace usage of the same terms on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News since the start of this year using data from the Internet Archive's Television News Archive through the Television Explorer.

Epidemic

Live Version.

Pandemic

Live Version.

Quarantine

Live Version.

Self-Isolation

Live Version.

Draconian

Live Version.

Lockdown

Live Version.

Triage

Live Version.

Martial Law

Live Version.

Cancel

Live Version.

Panic

Live Version.

Hoarding

Live Version.

Force Majeure

Live Version.