Abstract
Digital media, while opening a vast array of avenues for lay people to effectively engage with news, information and debates about important science and health issues, have become a fertile land for various stakeholders to spread misinformation and disinformation, stimulate uncivil discussions and engender ill-informed, dangerous public decisions. Recent developments of the Covid-19 infodemic might just be the tipping point of a process that has been long simmering in controversial areas of health and science (e.g., climate-change denial, anti-vaccination, anti-5G, Flat Earth doctrines). We bring together a wide range of fresh data and perspectives from four continents to help media scholars, journalists, science communicators, scientists, health professionals and policy-makers to better undersand these developments and what can be done to mitigate their impacts on public engagement with health and science controversies.
Highlights
Issue This editorial is part of the issue “Health and Science Controversies in the Digital World: News, Mis/Disinformation and Public Engagement” edited by An Nguyen (Bournemouth University, UK) and Daniel Catalan (University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain)
The 5G–coronavirus link is only one of numerous pieces of mis/disinformation fueled by digital social media during this pandemic
As the threats to other countries from the outbreak in China began to loom large in January 2020, observers quickly witnessed the global surge of all sorts of coronavirus-related mis/disinformation—from mere rumours and misleading interpretations of facts to fabricated videos and conspiracy theories—around its origin, symptoms, development, prevention and treatment measures, government responses/strategies and so on
Summary
Issue This editorial is part of the issue “Health and Science Controversies in the Digital World: News, Mis/Disinformation and Public Engagement” edited by An Nguyen (Bournemouth University, UK) and Daniel Catalan (University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain). Most observations and analyses have so far pointed to one crucial factor: the powerful role of digital media, especially online social networks, in facilitating and fostering mis/disinformation about health and science.
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