Abstract:
The COVID19 pandemic has unfolded along side what the World Health Organization has termed an “infodemic” of misinformation. This study identifies and analyzes the most prominent topics of COVID related misinformation that emerged in traditional media between January 1 and May 26,2020 based on a total sample of over 38 million articles published in English-language media around the world. To our knowledge, our analysis is the first comprehensive survey of the traditional and online media landscape on this issue. We found that media mentions of US President Donald Trump within the context of COVID-19 misinformation made up by far the largest share of the infodemic. Trump mentions comprised 37.9% of the overall misinformation conversation, well ahead of any other topics. We conclude that the President of the United States was likely the largest driver of the COVID-19 misinformation “infodemic”. Only 16.4% of the misinformation conversation was “fact-checking” in nature, suggesting that the majority of COVID misinformation is conveyed by the media without question or correction.
Tweety, BSN, RN
36,362 Posts
Trump continues on a reckless path.
Trump with his recent attacks on Fauci, saying he's not a team player, and that he and the other idiots are just posting information that people are tired of hearing. At least Fauci has the professionalism to say he's dong his job regardless.
He wants to focus on the fact that he banned travel from China, which ultimately was a good move. But what else after? Also he wants to focus on the idea that at first we were told not to wear masks and then we were. Okay, so science does evolve and there are hits and misses but to claim that "they get everything wrong" is just maddening to me.
He is not showing leadership in my opinion. I get not wanting to close down the economy. No one wants that. But at the least he should encourage people to be safe, wear masks, distance and not hold campaign rallies that could potentially infect people.
With Covid on the rise not fitting his agenda he's now just advocating that we shut up about it, get on with our lives as if nothing is going on because we're tired of it.
I also don't rely on mainstream media for covid information other than looking at the daily numbers here in Florida and the rate of positivity for my county. I usually look at Medscape for nurses as an evidenced based factual source.