Five in every six BBC News articles devoted to Covid-19 while B2B coverage varies by sector, analysis shows

BBC News is devoting 83 per cent of its output to the coronavirus, the highest proportion of any national news outlet, according to new analysis.

Five out of every six articles on BBC News has a focus on the virus, analysis of news output during the outbreak by PR firm Resonance shows.

The Guardian mentions the virus in nearly a third of its news coverage, as does the Daily Mail and Mail Online.

But in the trade press, the focus on Covid-19 coverage varies by sector.

In travel, an industry hit hard by restrictions on movement imposed by governments to try to slow the spread of the virus, 99 per cent of output on B2B title Travel Week is on the coronavirus.

By contrast about a fifth of the news output on The Register, which covers the technology sector, is focused on Covid-19.

Percentage of news output focused on Covid-19 in the trade press:

Travel (Travel Week) – 99 per cent
Retail (Retail Week) – 84 per cent
Finance (FN London) – 73 per cent
Property (Property Week) – 42 per cent
Security (SC Magazine UK) – 25 per cent
B2B Technology (The Register) – 24 per cent

Paul Kunert, UK Editor at The Register, said the website provides readers “with a balanced diet of news and analysis” and has “steered clear of scare stories” about coronavirus in the tech industry.

“Readers come to us for a mixture of reasons and those have not changed,” Kunert added.

Resonance’s news output statistics for the national media are based on an analysis of each publication’s RSS feeds on the snapshot date of 7 April.

For trade publications it analysed all news output from 1-7 April, searching with a Covid-19 focus.

Tom Fry, head of data analytics at Resonance, said: “When you look at the data, it’s surprising to see how much of the news output is devoted to coronavirus news…

“For the trade press, the proportion of the coronavirus coverage correlates with the scale of the impact. In travel, which is essentially shut down, it’s almost the only topic they are reporting on. “

He added: “The pandemic is taking a lot of column inches in the national media. It’s also not surprising that the sectors most impacted by the crisis have more of a focus.

“However, for B2B technology and vertical business press, there is still a desire to write stories outside of the crisis. They don’t want everything tied back to a Covid-19 headline.”

Fry said brands needed to “keep communicating beyond the coronavirus headlines for the good of the economy when we emerge”.

Topics in this article : Coronavirus