Abstract
OBJECTIVESLanguage can shape the way we perceive the world. In this paper, we investigated how exposure to media texts containing alarming and militaristic language affects peoples’ notions regarding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the consequences of this effect for public health.METHODSAfter reading a passage including either alarming and militaristic or neutral terminology on COVID-19, participants completed a questionnaire in which they answered 4 questions on a 7-point Likert scale. The questions assessed participants’ notions on the end of the pandemic, vaccine effectiveness, and the consequences of COVID-19 for economies and mental health. Ordinal regression models in R were used for the analysis.RESULTSIndividuals who were exposed to alarming and militaristic language expressed more pessimistic notions regarding COVID-19 than those who were exposed to more neutral language. However, both groups of individuals had similar notions regarding vaccine effectiveness.CONCLUSIONSThe media should redefine the language they use for the description of the pandemic, considering that the extensive use of alarming and militaristic terminology may have a negative impact on public health.
Highlights
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, China and since has widely spread throughout the world [1]; shortly before 2022, there were more than 5.3 million deaths and 270 million infections
The World Health Organization used the term “infodemic” to describe this massive information bombing, through an analogy with “pandemic.” information from the media keeps the public updated about the pandemic, the language used contributes to the spread of fear among the public [4] since people often read news headlines that characterize COVID-19 as a deadly disease and highlight the catastrophic consequences of the pandemic for world economies and humans’ mental health
The responses to the questions were on a Likert scale (1 [strongly agree] to 7 [strongly disagree]) and assessed the participants’ notions on the end of the pandemic, vaccine effectiveness, and the consequences for economies and mental health
Summary
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, China and since has widely spread throughout the world [1]; shortly before 2022, there were more than 5.3 million deaths and 270 million infections. The COVID-19 pandemic has received intense media coverage that has been substantially different from the coverage of other viral diseases [2,3]. Militaristic metaphors are widely used by the media to describe epidemics [5,6,7] These metaphors are prominent in the description of COVID-19, and they usually refer to a battle against a deadly virus in which soldiers bravely fight with every weapon; this terminology collectively reminds us of a war situation. The use of such metaphors to describe viral diseases is not an unprecedented phenomenon observed only in the COVID-19 era. It may use negative descriptions of the virus (e.g., deadly), highlight its negative outcomes (number of patients, hospitalizations), or use warnings or negative perlocutionary force markers to frighten or threaten [9]
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