Media Coverage Of Looming Food Shortages Has Decreased Since Late March

While the direct medical impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic have dominated headlines over the last few months, the resulting economic impacts and agricultural worker and supply chain displacements threaten to cause widespread food insecurity and even famine in parts of the world. Despite its limited international media coverage, the locust epidemic in Africa threatens to decimate already fragile agricultural systems.

Despite all of this, the timeline below shows daily worldwide online news coverage attention to “food” and either “shortage OR shortages OR insecurity OR famine OR famines” since the start of this year.

Starting shortly after Covid-19 was recognized as a global issue, from January 23rd, mentions of food insecurity began increasing steadily, more than doubling through March 12. From March 13 to March 21, mentions surged vertically, but in the two months since, mentions of food insecurity have dropped linearly day after day, showing a global media system pivoting away from the topic.

View the live graph!