News in Business News during the COVID-19 Pandemic in New Zealand : A Content Analysis

Background: Businesses have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. New Zealand (NZ) managed the COVID-19 pandemic successfully however at the costs of business. The aim of this study is to understand what dominated in business news in the mainstream newspapers in New Zealand during the pandemic. Method: A qualitative content analysis was employed to analyse the news content. A total of 134 business related news reports from leading online newspapers were analysed to identify dominant themes. Results: The findings from this text analysis revealed a unique pattern in the news reports and found that health concerns clustered as major themes (e.g., People, Self-isolate) dominated over business concerns clustered as (e.g., Supply, Industry) during the pandemic. The findings suggest that, unlike many developed countries, NZ put lives ahead of livelihoods. Conclusion: The finding of this research provides an insight for future research and has important implication for business and policy makers for understanding NZ’s unique approach to health crisis of giving priority to health over wealth which not only saved lives but also could generate larger benefits to the businesses in the long-term