Communicating Corrected Risk Assessments and Uncertainty About COVID-19 in the Post-truth Era

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge for science communication in terms of addressing the question of uncertainty and how it translates into risk. This task has been aggravated by the complexity of the pandemic and the current post-truth environment. The article suggests that there is a need to analyze the practices of correcting risk information that is uncertain, but not necessarily false, made by online news media about COVID-19. This is a point of analysis where the uncertainty and risk linked to science, the pandemic, and the post-truth condition meet. The qualitative discursive analysis yielded three important results: (1) uncertainty can be fought by increasing uncertainty; (2) a multiplication of facts or reasons may not be the most prominent strategy in practices of correction; and (3) the use of hyperlinks with additional information can increase uncertainty and risk.

Perceptions of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the work of science journalists: global perspectives

“…Participants from six world regions answered questions related to workload, the most used sources and the relationship with them, the use of preprint articles, and ways to deal with fake news. In the wake of other studies on journalism in times of pandemic [Fernandes, 2021;Figaro, 2020;Hoak, 2021;IFJ, 2020;Lasser et al, 2020], we can conclude that the health crisis of enormous proportions imposed -and continues to impose -drastic changes on science journalism, intensifying challenges and dilemmas prior to the pandemic [Miranda, Fidalgo and Martins, 2021;Perreault and Perreault, 2021].…”

“…Studies have been carried out to investigate the situation of journalists in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic [Fernandes, 2021;Figaro, 2020;Hoak, 2021;IFJ, 2020;Miranda, Fidalgo and Martins, 2021;Wollnik, 2021]. This article adds a global perspective to these initiatives by presenting the results of a survey of science journalists from countries in six world regions.…”

Science journalism in pandemic times: perspectives on the science-media relationship from COVID-19 researchers in Southern Europe

“…The COVID-19 emergency has also posed specific challenges and evidenced communication pitfalls, such as the growing use of preliminary research data (i.e., pre-prints, in many cases not contextualized or identified) in media reporting (Fleerackers et al, 2021;Fraser et al, 2021), difficulties in managing increasing uncertainty (Dunwoody, 2020;Fernandes, 2021;López-García et al, 2021), and the fight of dis/misinformation and global fake news spreading (Mesquita et al, 2020;López-García et al, 2021;Naeem et al, 2021;Muresan and Salcudean, 2023). From the point of view of the participants interviewed, researchers, journalists, but also other stakeholders (e.g., policymakers, national agencies, and the public) are co-responsible for tackling the infodemic and fighting the far-reaching spreading of inaccurate and false information.…”