| Abstract | The World Health Organization labeled the rise of misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic an "infodemic,"[1] or an overabundance of information, both online and offline. The COVID-19 pandemic is an example of how the scientific method can find itself at odds with journalism practices, especially those which promote the communication theory of priming. Moreso, the challenge news media face when it comes to keeping up with an ever-changing landscape of pandemic conditions as numbers and medical advice shift. Researchers, epidemiologists, and medical professionals shared early advice with the public about the SARS-CoV-2 virus that didn't recognize it as highly infectious and able to rapidly mutate.[2] As such, their earlier recommendations and predictions changed with the timeline of the virus, mutations and suggested treatments. As time went on, their recommendations and predictions changed, leading some critics to question their expertise. Where society was fearful and grasping for information to protect themselves and their families, there was no expectation that researchers felt the same. Therein lies a fundamental misunderstanding of how the public thinks scientific research works and how it actually manifests. Researchers do not have all the answers, much less at the start of a pandemic caused by a novel virus. The scientific method rewards scientists for asking questions, finding what the answer cannot be in order to narrow down possibilities, and not necessarily figuring out the answer on the first try. The urgency of the pandemic complicated this natural timeline for research as time and educated guesses were the only options when the virus was mutating quickly, millions of people were dying from the disease, and major political
and economic stressors were intensifying the need for solid, correct answers quickly. The growing discrepancy between scientific and public consensus for a range of issues, like vaccine safety and climate change only exacerbated the situation.[3] So, society and scientific communities were both under extreme stress and pressure to have answers where there were no easy answers.
[1] ?Managing the COVID-19 Infodemic: Promoting Healthy Behaviours and Mitigating the Harm from Misinformation and Disinformation,? World Health Organization (World Health Organization, September 23, 2020), https://www.who.int/news/item/23-09-2020-managing-the-covid-19-infodemic-promoting-healthy-behaviours-and-mitigating-the-harm-from-misinformation-and-disinformation.
[2] Nash D. Rochman et al., ?Ongoing Global and Regional Adaptive Evolution of SARS-COV-2,? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118, no. 29 (February 2021), https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2104241118.
[3] Dietram A. Scheufele and Nicole M. Krause, ?Science Audiences, Misinformation, and Fake News,? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116, no. 16 (2019): pp. 7662-7669, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805871115. |
