Public sphere attitudes towards the rumor sources of the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from community perceptions in Iran

Morteza Banakar,Seyed Taghi Heydari,Ahmad Kalateh Sadati,Leila Zarei,Saeed Shahabi,Kamran Bagheri Lankarani

doi:10.1186/s12889-021-12254-x

Morteza Banakar, Seyed Taghi Heydari + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-12254-x

Copy DOI

Abstract

BackgroundIn the COVID-19 pandemic, rumors travel far faster than the outbreak itself. The current study aimed to evaluate the factors affecting the attitudes of individuals towards the rumors-producing media in Iran.MethodsAn online cross-sectional survey was conducted in Iran in March 2020 on the source of information and rumors, along with the perception of individuals regarding the reasons for rumors propagation during the COVID-19 pandemic.ResultsResults showed that the majority of the participants (59.3%) believed that social media were the main source of rumors. The lack of a reliable and formal news resource was also considered the most common cause of rumoring by the participants (63.6%). An evaluation was carried out to identify the main source of misinformation and rumors. Results showed that Retired participants considered foreign media (P < 0.001) as the main resource. The middle-income level participants believed that social media (P < 0.001) were the main source. In this regard, the highly educated participants (P < 0.001), government employees, and middle-income individuals (P = 0.008) believed that national media produced rumors.ConclusionAlthough findings were achieved during the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the authorities immediately introduced the national media as a reliable news resource, which allowed both media and its journalists to reduce the gap between themselves and the public sphere. It was suggested that social networks and foreign media be more accountable in pandemics.

Highlights

In the COVID-19 pandemic, rumors travel far faster than the outbreak itself
The current study aimed to evaluate the perception of individuals regarding COVID-19 rumors, detect the resources used by people to achieve data, and reveal the association between social factors and attitudes of individuals towards the source of rumors
Social media was considered as the primary source of misleading information for a majority of participants (59.3% (1513)); phone calls and text messages were regarded as the least rumor-containing media (4.5% (115)) (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

In the COVID-19 pandemic, rumors travel far faster than the outbreak itself. The wrong or ambiguous information, which does not originate from reliable resources which do not deceive people, is called misinformation. It includes rumors, insults, and pranks [6]. Rumors of the second type could be perceived because of the nonexistence of enough information of the media regarding the properties of the novel virus at the first stages during the SARS period. The third type is known as protomemorates, which spread in a chain from one person to another Nowadays, they are transmitted in the communities too much faster than in the past because of more powerful media. The rumors of city quarantine or food shortages are included in this category [7]

Methods

Results

Conclusion