Introduction

The Covid-19 epidemic is a global public health disaster, and it is also a test of the ability to respond to and guide public opinion on crisis events in the mass media. In line with China’s epidemic prevention and control goals, mainstream media are also trying their best to create a collectivist public opinion environment to protect the life and property interests of the largest number of people. However, some reports called ‘low-level red’ and ‘embarrassing warmth’ news have appeared, resulting in negative social effects. These news circulating on the Internet essentially refer to the negative communication effects produced by the news media using the logic of propaganda, not following the objective law of news reports. This paper also involves the public relations between China’s mainstream media and the audience in a sense, emphasizing the importance of the credibility of a country’s mainstream media.

Research methods and purposes

This paper uses case analysis to investigate the negative communication effects of 2 representative samples based on the ‘low-level red’ and ‘embarrasing warmth’ news under the background of the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper also selects a case with positive dissemination effects as a sample for comparative analysis, in order to find the deeper reasons behind the emergence of these panpaganda-like news and possible ways to avoid these problems.

Conclusion

The research outcomes remind the media itself of the appropriateness of their reporting methods and content, and it should pay more attention to re-evaluate its own positioning and clarify how to do a qualified job in news reporting rather than following the trend. For the construction of their own credibility, it would be advisable to focus on the pursuit of news value and collectivist humanistic care, while avoiding misleading public perception. Especially in the face of emergencies or disasters, media workers are advised to have a full grasp of the caliber of news dissemination and publicity, so as to play a better communication effect and role in the special period.