이 연구는 신종 감염병 위기 상황에서의 핵심 정보원인 정부 보도자료를 언론이 어떻게 활용하는가를 실증적으로 살펴보았다. 이를 위해 코로나19 관련 주요 정책 이슈인 ‘사회적 거리두기’를 중심으로 조선일보와 한겨레신문의 뉴스기사를 분석했다. 보도자료를 각 언론사에서 활용한 방식은 형식적 차원과 내용적 차원으로 구분했다. 내용적 차원은 보도자료의 프레임과 각 언론사의 프레임을 비교ㆍ분석했다. 분석 결과, 두 언론사는 정치적 지향점에 따라 원하는 방식으로 보도자료를 재구성하는 과정을 거쳤다. 보도자료와 한겨레는 대체로 비슷한 패턴(설득프레임, 공감프레임 등)의 프레임을 사용했고, 조선일보는 시기와 관계없이 정부비판프레임, 갈등프레임을 주로 사용하면서 국민의 협조를 독려하는 프레임은 거의 사용하지 않았다. 또, 조선일보는 보도자료에 대한 해석과 분석에는 인색했지만, 취재원을 활용해 의견과 주장을 덧붙이는 재구성 방식을 주로 활용했다. 이 경우 전문가를 제외한 취재원은 대부분 익명이었다. 한겨레는 ‘사설’을 통해 직접적으로 보도자료에 대한 의견을 제시하는 재구성 방식을 택했다. 사설 이외에 취재 기사에서 의견/주장을 담을 경우에는 주로 투명취재원을 활용했다. 분석 결과를 기반으로 감염병 위기 상황에서의 헬스 저널리즘 지향점에 대한 논의와 제언을 담았다. 더불어 국민의 불안 해소와 감염병 극복이라는 공통의 문제 해결을 위해 헬스 커뮤니케이션 주체 간 유기적 연결의 필요성을 강조했다.
This study empirically examined how the media use the press release from the government, considering that the press release of government functions as an important source of information when in the face of a new infectious disease crisis. In particular, we tried to analyze whether there is a difference in the way press releases are used according to the political orientation of media. This study analyzed the news articles of ChosunIlbo and Hankyoreh, focusing on "social distancing" which is a major policy issue related to COVID-19. The analysis period is from January 1, 2021 to July 31, 2021. Since the social distancing policy has changed according to the change in the COVID-19 situation, the period was divided into three parts accordingly. The way of using the press release by each media was divided into formal dimension and content dimension. In the perspective of content dimension, the news articles were compared and analyzed between the frame shown in the press release and the frame revealed by each media. In addition, the overall tone and attitude of each newspaper to press release was analyzed. As a result of analyzing the reconstruction method of the article, the ChosunIlbo was stingy with additional interpretations of the press release, but mainly used a reconstruction method of adding opinions and arguments using additional news sources along with the press release. In this case, most of the sources except experts were anonymous. Meanwhile, Hankyoreh chose to present its opinion on the press release directly through "editorial" page. However, Hankyoreh used transparent news sources for content containing opinions/assertions in the other types of articles except for editorial pages. As a result of frame analysis, the two newspapers went through a process of reorganizing the press releases about social distancing so that their political orientation was revealed in the desired way. The results of comparing the contents of two newspapers and press release showed that press release and Hankyoreh generally used frames with similar patterns (persuasion frames, empathy frames, etc.,), and ChosunIlbo rarely used frames that encouraged public cooperation, mainly using government criticism and conflict frames regardless of the period. Based on this, the researcher concluded that the conservative media showed a method of using press releases according to political orientation rather than achieving the common purpose of eradicating infectious diseases. Based on these analysis results, academic discussions and suggestions on health journalism in the context of an infectious disease crisis were included. In particular, the study emphasized that the social responsibility to provide accurate information at an understandable level in order to minimize public anxiety and confusion is exactly consistent with the traditional principles of journalism. Therefore, this current study argued health journalism needs to adhere to the journalistic norms of articles such as accuracy of information, transparency of news sources, reliability, depth of articles, and diversity. In addition, this study presented policy implications emphasizing the need for organic connection between health communication subjects to solve a common problem of resolving public anxiety and overcoming infectious diseases. Finally, the study noted that the cooperative relationship between the government and the media could be realized through consensus on the basic principles of health journalism.