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Fake news and the effects on the pandemic

Laura Olazabal

Michael Rodriguez

Florida International University

IDS 3309

October 24th, 2021

Fake news and the effects on the pandemic

In the first part of this topic, the paper focused on the effects of fake news on the COVID-19 pandemic. We saw how fast fake news spread and how quickly people believe what they read, especially on online media platforms. Today, we will look at the difference in COVID-19 media coverage globally, consumer reactions to the media coverage, the different movements caused by the pandemic, and their similarities and differences as well.

It is rare for an individual to get a front-row seat with access to large-scale data on how online news media narratives shift with a global pandemic. Fortunately, for this generation, where there is a lot of technological advancement, we can see what is happening globally from the comfort of our homes or wherever we are. News media narratives shape societal perception and influence how society reacts to a situation like the pandemic. There was a big difference in how the media outlets (both online and offline) narrated the COVID-19 problem.

For example, in China, where it all started, the media had no freedom to divulge information freely. The Chinese government monitored every publication (still is) carefully (Hua & Shaw, 2020). Because of that, the Chinese people and the world did not know the exact number of people affected or infected by the disease. That led to many speculations that did not help in reassuring the already panicking masses of people. In Africa, the media and, more so, social media was filled with so much exaggeration of the pandemic situation. The narration was that people were dropping dead like sprayed flies on the streets in the western world.

While there was an exponential increase in publications devoted to the pandemic, few media outlets took a systematic approach of analyzing online news media narratives of Covid-19, which led to a lot of fake news finding its way into the mainstream media. In Brazil, the media outlets misled the people when they reported that the president had found a cure for the disease, which was a cocktail of unproven drugs (Pontalti et al., 2020). The drugs contained hydroxyl chloroquine, and that reporting led to the death of many who ignored the scientific data and the Coronavirus disease protocols given by doctors. Generally, media coverage globally had its unique narrative and hence different perceptions put in people's minds. And, naturally, people reacted differently based on the type of information they had. While some were positive about the disease and kept calm, others went into panic mode. Others got depression from The fear instilled in them by the media coverage. Others refuse to be vaccinated to date, thanks to the range they got.

There were a lot of movements that took place and are taking place around the world due to the pandemic. One such movement is the group of Chinese activists who came out to protest against lockdowns as they argued that lockdowns were taking away human rights of movement (Gravante & Poma, 2021). Then there was the anti-vaccine movement and the mask-up movement in Russia before they invented their vaccine. It is fair to say that the pandemic brought with it all manner of resistance and support for the initiatives put in place by the governments in a bid to combat the terrible disease leading to some permanent change of development. One notable such change is the movement to work from home, which I think will stay with us long after the pandemic.

There are many similarities in the movements that came about in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, almost every country did have lockdowns at some point to prevent the spread of the disease. The social distance movement and the mask policy are being exercised globally. Even the media coverage about the pandemic has somehow been harmonized now, and they are all reporting similar facts. The media sensitization against fake news and the dangers of spreading fake news is currently a significant movement taking place in the world as the people in charge witnessed how dangerous fake news is during the pandemic.

Like there are similarities in how the pandemic is being handled, there are differences as well. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread rapidly across the globe and more so in developing countries. Still, media coverage of the pandemic has decreased, especially in the U.S., since the initial flurry of attention received during the beginning of the crisis in early 2020. The focus shifted to vaccination drive, and now the west is more focused on rebuilding its economy. Also, the constant hearing and worrying about the pandemic has led to COVID fatigue in the U.S. (Dong, Du & Gardner, 2020). And again, the media coverage is responsible for the current shift from COVID -19 talk. That shows the powers the media has in shaping perspectives.

References

Dong, E., Du, H., & Gardner, L. (2020). An interactive web-based dashboard to track COVID-19 in real-time. The Lancet infectious diseases, 20(5), 533-534.

Gravante, T., & Poma, A. (2021). How are emotions about COVID-19 impacting society? The role of the political elite and grassroots activism. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy.

Hua, J., & Shaw, R. (2020). Coronavirus (Covid-19) “infodemic" and emerging issues through a data lens: The case of China. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(7), 2309.

Pontalti, Monari, A. C., Santos, A., & Sacramento, I. (2020). COVID-19 and (hydroxy) chloroquine: a dispute over scientific truth during Bolsonaro's weekly Facebook live streams. Journal of Science Communication, 19(7), A03.