Infodemic in Germany and Brazil

Abstract

Even though the topic of infodemic – a blending of the words information and pandemic – emerged just in 2020 it addresses a question that has been crucial ever since in communication: How to establish – or undermine – credibility? This article deals with rhetorical techniques applied by Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro (2019–) and high-ranking politicians of the German party AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) during the COVID-19-pandemic. The analysis is based on tweets published through their official accounts during the first year of the pandemic (@jairbolsonaro, @AfD). Meanwhile Bolsonaro, who was in charge during the crisis, attacks the media claiming they would spread panic and false information, AfD, an opposition party, concentrates its criticism on the federal and state governments. The key concept credibility‹ as discussed by Ortwin Renn (2019) and basic claims that appear in Aristotle’s »Rhetoric«, dating from the 4th century BC, build the theoretical basis of this study. Methodologically, the analysis is based on the Discourse-Historical Approach (Reisigl/Wodak 2001), focusing on discursive strategies of negative other representation, and a framework for studies on the language of legitimation and delegitimation developed by Theo van Leeuwen (1996).