Episodic coverage of any issue presents a story in isolation, inevitably placing the blame or responsibility for the situation on the people directly involved, such as migrants, refugees or poor communities, rather than the wider forces that have shaped their situation. Its opposite is thematic coverage.

The word 'ethnocentric' (also 'Eurocentric' or 'Westernocentric') refers to the tendency to place one's own social group or nation at the centre of one’s worldview, with all other groups or countries assessed and classified in relation to it. This is a particular pitfall for journalists from the global north covering issues in the global south, who may do this unconsciously – hence the need to be very aware of one’s own assumptions and willing to challenge them in one’s work.