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COVID-19 Infodemic

Publication at Faculty of Social Sciences |
2022

Abstract

The book deals with the phenomenon of infodemic, i.e. the spread of excessive information, including inaccurate and false information, about a health problem (e.g. a virus, epidemic, pandemic, etc.), which makes it difficult to find an effective solution. The publication examines the factors that contribute to the development of infodemic (e.g. the spread of information disorders in the networked digital media environment, the unpreparedness of public health institutions to deal with a pandemic, political exploitation/abuse of pandemics, low levels of media and health literacy in the population, information overload in society, the media's pursuit of ratings, unrefined journalistic ethics, etc.).

The dominant part of the publication is the manifestations of infodemic in the domestic media landscape (e.g. dis/misinformation narratives in the early days of the pandemic and their spread, inappropriate use of war metaphors by journalists, inaccurate media handling of health data, live monitoring of the pandemic without taking into account the wider context, etc.). The book is also supplemented by a clear explanatory glossary of key terms in relation to the suppression of the COVID-19 infodemic.