Abstract
The quality of the information that people are exposed
to influences their outlook, perceptions, and interactions. This study
examines how the framing of information about the Covid-19
Omicron variant led to its characterization as an ‘African’ variant.
The World Health Organization (WHO) introduced the term
‘disinfodemic’ to describe the widespread misinformation and biased
reporting during the pandemic, which significantly impacted society.
This concept emerged from what the WHO termed a “massive
infodemic,” a key driver of the pandemic’s spread. This study
evaluates the global fear and reactionary measures taken by governments
towards African countries. Using a desktop systematic
review of online news coverage and Covid-19 regulations over
two periods (November 2021 – January 2022 and October 2022 –
December 2022), this study addresses how the media contributed to
the portrayal of the Omicron variant as an ‘African’ variant, and the
implications of this portrayal for the African continent. Supported by
the media framing theory, this paper advocates for enhanced media
literacy to combat misinformation. Given the critical role of the
Internet and related technologies in managing information, this study
underscores the importance of developing media literacy competencies
to mitigate and counteract news misinformation.