"This paper describes an infodemic management system workflow based on digital data collection, qualitative methodology, and human-centered systems to support the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Ghana with examples of system implementation. Methods: The infodemic management system was developed by the H
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ealth Promotion Division of the GHS and the UNICEF Country Office. It uses Talkwalker, a social listening software platform, to collect misinformation on the web. The methodology relies on qualitative data analysis and interpretation as well as knowledge cocreation to verify the findings. A multi-sectoral National Misinformation Task Force was established to implement and oversee the misinformation management system. Two members of the task force were responsible for carrying out the analysis. They used Talkwalker to find posts that include the keywords related to COVID-19 vaccine–related discussions. They then assessed the significance of the posts on the basis of the engagement rate and potential reach of the posts, negative sentiments, and contextual factors. The process continues by identifying misinformation within the posts, rating the risk of identified misinformation posts, and developing proposed responses to address them. The results of the analysis are shared weekly with the Misinformation Task Force for their review and verification to ensure that the risk assessment and responses are feasible, practical, and acceptable in the context of Ghana." (Abstract)
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"This report aims to introduce techniques and procedures of NLP (Natural Language Processing), the computational preparation and analysis of text data, to map the public voice and aid development. First, the report introduces essential concepts of communication and elaborates on the theoretical foun
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dations of natural language analyses. Second, the report reviews research on NLP of social media text data by showcasing studies that have applied the techniques to the Sustainable Development Goals. Third, the report reviews specific NLP techniques, including data preprocessing, and dicusses libraries and programming procedures. It also reviews concepts such as keyword extraction to identify relevant terms, topic modeling to detect common themes, and text classification to recognize language features. These NLP techniques are showcased in two case studies. The first shows how topic modeling can be applied to derive insights on the public debate over climate change in Australia. The second demonstrates how text classification can be leveraged to analyze public sentiment on COVID-19 in the Philippines. Finally, the report discusses the challenges and limitations, as well as the potentials, of NLP." (Foreword)
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"Against the background of the COVID-19 crisis in Israel, the country’s ultra-orthodox population, the Haredim, were faced with seemingly insuperable dilemmas of compromising their religious standards for the sake of dealing with the virus. The government launched a public relations campaign to pe
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rsuade this public, but its success was qualified. This study examines Israeli governmental information policy towards the Haredi population during COVID-19." (Abstract)
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"National governments have played a key role in constructing the Covid-19 pandemic through their communications. Drawing on thematic, discursive and visual analyses of Covid-19 campaigns from 12 national contexts, we show how the pandemic has presented governments with unique conditions for articula
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ting and reinforcing nationalism and neoliberalism. The campaigns frame the pandemic as a force that brings the nation together and conjure up notions of national ‘solidarity lite’ while relentlessly authorizing the crisis-ready responsible citizen. In so doing, they reproduce neoliberal rationality by shifting the locus of responsibility from the state and social structures to the individual and re-inscribing gendered and classed notions of responsibility, care and citizenship. Mobilizing national neoliberal narratives enables governments to render the pandemic legible as a crisis while obscuring both the structural injustices that exacerbate the crisis and the structural changes required to address it." (Abstract)
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"El informe [...] analiza el impacto de la COVID-19 en los medios de comunicación masivos de Argentina, Chile, Brasil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Perú, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Panamá, México, Honduras, Nicaragua y España. Durante la pandemia, el mundo entero se detuvo, pero l
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a industria periodística funcionó con una intensidad extraordinaria. Los profesionales de medios no solo debieron responder a una demanda de información sin precedentes, sino también enfrentar desafíos adicionales asociados a la falta de financiamiento, la labilidad de la seguridad física y laboral, la reestructuración de las condiciones y los modos de trabajo y fenómenos como la desinformación, entre otros aspectos. En la presentación [...] el presidente de ADEPA Daniel Dessein dijo que “en Latinoamérica la recuperación ha sido relativa, dejando vulnerable al periodismo, en tiempos en el que su función se torna más necesaria. En el período analizado crecieron los niveles de polarización, desinformación y debilitamiento institucional de nuestras sociedades. El periodismo es un factor imprescindible para contrarrestar estos avances. Por eso es tan relevante contar con un diagnóstico adecuado sobre la salud de la prensa para poder plantear vías adecuadas para su recuperación y fortalecimiento”. Por su parte, Adriana Amado, presidenta de Infociudadana, explicó que “la pandemia generó que la humanidad acelerara los tiempos de digitalización, y a su vez mostró que no en todos los lugares de Latinoamérica en contraste con España, estaba la estructura necesaria para que la conectividad fuera confiable. Si bien esto es crítico para toda la sociedad, es excluyente para la labor y función de medios y periodistas de localidades donde no hay buen acceso a la conectividad”. (https://adepa.org.ar)
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"For months, our team has been tracking how China has exploited search engine results on Xinjiang and COVID-19, two subjects that are geopolitically salient to Beijing — Xinjiang, because the Chinese government seeks to push back on condemnation of its rights record; COVID-19, because it seeks to
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deflect criticism for its early mishandling o f the pandemic. In both cases, Beijing is quite focused on positioning itself as a responsible global leader and softening perceptions to the contrary. To evaluate these concerns, we compiled daily data over a 120-day period on 12 terms related to Xinjiang and COVID-19 from five different sources: (1) Google Search; (2) Google News; (3) Bing Search; (4) Bing News; and (5) YouTube. We found that Chinese state media are remarkably effective at influencing the content returned for the term “Xinjiang” across several search types. “Xinjiang,” which is among the most neutral terms in our data set, regularly returned state-backed content across news searches, with at least one Chinese state-backed news outlet appearing in the top 10 results in 88% of searches (106 out of 120 days searched). On YouTube, state media appeared among the top 10 results in searches for “Xinjiang” in 98% of searches (118 out of 120 days searched) [...]" (Executive summary)
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"Existing research on factors informing public perceptions of expert trustworthiness was largely conducted during stable periods and in longestablished Western liberal democracies. This article asks whether the same factors apply during a major health crisis and in relatively new democracies. Drawin
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g on 120 interviews and diaries conducted during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Serbia, we identify two additional factors not acknowledged in existing research, namely personal contact with experts and experts’ independence from political elites. We also examine how different factors interact and show how distrust of experts can lead to exposure to online misinformation." (Abstract)
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"Existing research on media and the COVID-19 pandemic is largely based on quantitative data, focused on digital media, limited to single-country studies, and often West-centred. As such, it has limited capacity to provide a holistic account of the causes and consequences of audience engagement with
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COVID-19 news, or to consider the impact of systemic political and media factors. To compensate for that, we examine a large set of qualitative interviews and media diaries collected in four eastern European countries during the first wave of the pandemic. We show that changes in news consumption—including the resurgence of television and decline of print consumption—were not driven solely by audience demand for up-to-date information, but also by practical constrains of home-bound life in lockdown, and the introduction of live briefings. Our findings underscore disruption and uncertainty as key elements of audience experiences and highlight the markedly privatized and depoliticized nature of public debate in the early phase of the pandemic. We argue that the pandemic was an unpredictable, open-ended, and exhausting media event with high potential for divisiveness and polarization, especially in contexts marked by low levels of media freedom, declining democratic standards, and elite-led politicization of the crisis." (Abstract)
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"Wie denken gewöhnliche Russ:innen wirklich über die Entscheidung von Präsident Putin, in die Ukraine einzumarschieren? Obwohl einiges dafürspricht, dass frühere Umfragen, die Zustimmungswerte um 60 % für den Krieg zeigen, als genuine Signale der russischen öffentlichen Meinung gewertet werde
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n können, untersucht dieser Beitrag eine Reihe von Gründen, warum diese Umfrageergebnisse mit großer Vorsicht behandelt oder gar ignoriert werden sollten. Gründe dafür sind u. a. die staatliche Zensur, die Selbstzensur der Bevölkerung und eine verzerrte Beantwortung der Fragen, das Vorhandensein von Protesten sogar in einem autoritären Umfeld in Russland, als auch die Tatsache, dass einige der früheren Umfragen nach einem hypothetischen Einmarsch fragten, über den viele Russ:innen wohl nicht ausreichend nachgedacht haben könnten. Allerdings führt der Beitrag an, dass die plausibelste Erklärung für den offensichtlichen anfänglichen Rückhalt für den Krieg in der Manipulation der öffentlichen Meinung durch staatliche Kontrolle der Kommunikationskanäle und der weitverbreitete Einsatz von Zensur, Propaganda und Desinformation im eigenen Land als auch im Ausland liegt." (Seite 6)
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"To prevent the spread of COVID-19 and carry out a successful vaccination program especially in low-income countries, people must have faith on scientists and health experts. The most significant challenge to vaccination programs' efficacy is now regarded to be a lack of information and trust in imm
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unization due to myths and misinformation spread in the community. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the myth and misconceptions that are propagated about the COVID-19 vaccine, the refusal rate of the vaccine and determine the factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine refusal. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from December 7 to January 25, 2022. Face-to-face interviews with a standardized questionnaire were used to collect data on the variables. Data were entered into the statistical tool Epi data version 3.1 and then exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Binary logistic regression, both bivariable and multivariable, was conducted. In the multivariable binary logistic regression model, the adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was used to declare statistically significant factors based on a p value less than 0.05. Factors like eHealth literacy, source of information about the vaccine, frequency of internet use, respondent's perception about the vaccine and computer literacy were found to be determinant factors for COVID-19 vaccine acceptance." (Abstract)
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"The emergence of social media in the late 90s resulted in information dissemination and consumption transformation. Social networking sites have increasingly been popular and appealing to youths, who often spend much time navigating across the platforms, exploiting the communication affordances. Wh
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ereas social media eases the consumption of news and information, it nurtures the spread and consumption of fake news which tends to influence users' perceptions, particularly, those lacking the requisite literacy to guide safe consumption of fake news. Unfortunately, during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite efforts to enlighten people on the safety measures against the disease, the spread of misinformation and disinformation about the pandemic through social media platforms tends to undermine adherence to preventive measures advised by health experts and results in incautious behavior that can worsen, instead of flattening the curve on the COVID-19. This study, therefore, examines the students' consumption of COVID-19 related fake news on social media and the extent to which social media literacy moderates its effect on their perception of the disease. A survey design has been adopted, a convenience sampling was used where a questionnaire was formed on google form and distributed to the students of the two selected polytechnics through Facebook and WhatsApp. A total of 108 responses were generated; thus, descriptive and T-test analyses were run and the result revealed that the students possess the requisite literacy to identify fake news on social media platforms, and that has a significant on their perception of COVID-19, despite consumption of fake news related to the disease based on the T-test p = 0.05. Therefore, the result suggests that the effectiveness of media literacy as inoculant moderates the effect of fake news, as asserted by the inoculation theorists, it has no bearing on the long established stereotypical notion that certain diseases are conspiracies to reduce the population of the world." (Abstract)
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"The purpose of this systematic literature review is to review the major studies about misinformation and fake news during COVID-19 on social media. A total of 144 articles studies were retrieved from ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Web of Science databases and 20 relevant articles were selected using th
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e PRISMA technique. It was found that altruism, instant news sharing, self-promotion, and socialization are predictors of fake news sharing. Furthermore, the human mind plays a significant role in spreading misinformation while the role of critical thinking of individuals is very much important in controlling the flow of misinformation." (Abstract)
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"This paper aims to unpack a structured overview of previous research topics and findings and identify gaps. Our goal in this systematic review is to (a) synthesize the selected earlier studies, (b) offer researchers a structural framework for future COVID-19 and fake news research, and (c) recommen
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d relevant areas for future research. In this study, we focus on eighty conceptual and empirical studies on misinformation of COVID-19-related news on social media. We identify vital publications and methodological and theoretical approaches that exist in the COVID-19 literature. The articles were systematically analyzed, focusing on the research context and time frame, data collection/analysis procedures, and equivalence issues. While COVID-19 research has been advancing significantly over the past couple of months, numerous questions remain unexplained in the domain of the social media landscape. For example, our review suggests that researchers should begin to concentrate on a process framework blending Artificial Intelligence (AI) to curb the fake news problem. This can be achieved in all three phases, e.g., the study of individual decisions and experiences, the experiences of groups and organizations and the interactions between them, and finally, the interactions at the broadest level (micro, meso, and macro stages)." (Abstract)
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"The volume helps us deconstruct COVID-19 discourses on crisis communication and media developments focusing on three areas: Media viability, Framing and Health crisis communication. The chapters unpack issues on marginalisation, gender, media sustainability, credibility, priming, trust, sources, be
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havioural change, mental health, (mis)information, vaccine hesitancy and myths and more. Ultimately, this volume roots for sustainable and quality journalism, human (information and communication) rights, commitment to truth and efficacious (health) crisis communication." (Publisher description)
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"This paper examines responses to disinformation, in particular those involving automated tools, from a human rights perspective. It provides an introduction to current automated content moderation and curation practices, and to the interrelation between the digital information ecosystem and the phe
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nomenon of disinformation. The paper concludes that an unwarranted use of automation to govern speech, in particular highly context-dependent disinformation, is neither in line with states’ positive obligation to protect nor with intermediaries’ responsibility to respect human rights. The paper also identifies required procedural and remedial human rights safeguards for content governance, such as transparency, user agency, accountability, and independent oversight. Though essential, such safeguards alone appear insufficient to tackle COVID-19 online disinformation, as highly personalized content and targeted advertising make individuals susceptible to manipulation and deception. Consequently, this paper demonstrates an underlying need to redefine advertising- and surveillance-based business models and to unbundle services provided by a few dominant internet intermediaries to sustainably address online disinformation." (Abstract)
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"Esta Guía del Panorama de los Medios brinda una instantánea de los medios en Colombia, incluidas las audiencias, los productores, las preferencias de los diferentes grupos de la comunidad, la cultura de las comunicaciones y los idiomas asociados con los medios. Da una idea del papel de los medios
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en el trabajo de desarrollo, el alistamiento para crisis, los desastres recientes y (al momento de escribir este artículo) respuesta continua al COVID-19. La guía también brinda una descripción general de cada sector de los medios, incluidos los medios digitales y sociales, la radio, la televisión, la prensa y otras formas tradicionales de comunicación masiva. Cabe señalar que, dada la naturaleza en constante cambio del panorama de los medios, esta no es una descripción general completa de todos los medios y plataformas, sino más bien un resumen instantáneo de los más relevantes en el momento de escribir este artículo." (Introduccíon)
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"The political and media rhetoric of the pandemic is that of conflict and a call to arms in face of a hidden enemy. But this is not a distant war where journalists are parachuted in to report on the action for a few weeks and then fly home. It is on our own doorstep. Many of those covering the globa
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l crisis do not correspond to the popular image of hardened conflict reporters and may have little experience in dealing with distressing stories of death, grief and mourning. How are journalists coping with the everyday diet of trauma when the corona frontline may be affecting their families, friends and colleagues? This article explores these issues through narrative interviews with UK-based journalists covering the pandemic for broadcast, print and digital media. It seeks to capture their “emotional labour” and explore possible differences in their practice and the coping strategies they employ. The paper locates this discussion within the context of an industry that has paid relatively little heed to these issues and considers what long-term implications the coronavirus may have for the next generation of digital journalists." (Abstract)
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"Confronted with a situation that was new to everyone, world leaders sought the best way to contain the pandemic caused by the coronavirus. The measures introduced, with lockdowns and curfews, affected fundamental rights such as freedom of movement and assembly, with implications for freedom of expr
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ession and freedom of the press. Demonstrations against the governments’ COVID-19 policies and the associated encroachments on citizens’ fundamental rights in turn led to attacks on media representatives and thus on the freedom of reporting. They were also further proof that attacks on the freedom of the media no longer come only from the state. The restrictions on journalistic work were by no means a surprise attack on the media, but the continuation of a worldwide trend that has been evident for several years, not only in authoritarian systems, but also in established democracies. For those who fear the free press and its watchdog function, the pandemic provided a welcome opportunity, under the pretext of public health, to tighten the reins a bit more and create facts that will endure beyond the pandemic. Financial support for the media, especially the printed press, to cushion the economic consequences of the pandemic and to secure newspapers for the future, establishes new dependencies that can affect free reporting in the long term." (Abstract)
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"This study investigated the knowledge and practice of safety protocols among journalists serving as frontline workers in the fight against COVID-19 in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was adopted. Structured questionnaire served as instrument for data collection. The popula
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tion of the study was all the one hundred and fifty-seven (157) registered journalists in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The study was anchored on the Stages of Change Model and Health Belief Model. Simple percentage, frequency table, bar chart, T-test and Pearson’s chi square tests were used to analyse the research questions whereas t-test and Pearson’s Chi square test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 significance level. Findings show that whereas majority of the respondents had good knowledge of Coronavirus personal protective measures, they lack the technicalities and personal protective equipment required to serve as frontline health workers in a highly infectious pandemic situation such as Coronavirus. The study recommends special training for journalists who cover pandemics, particularly highly infectious ones of this nature to better equip them with the requisite skills for this genre of special assignment. Journalism training bodies and institutes could also consider the inclusion of pandemic reporting as part of specialised courses in journalism studies. Prioritsing vaccination of journalists who serve as frontline workers during pandemics is also strongly recommended." (Abstract)
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"The book evaluates unique civic challenges, responsibilities, and opportunities for media worldwide, exploring pandemic social norms that media promote or discourage, and how media serve as instruments of social control and resistance, or of cooperation and representation. These chapters raise sign
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ificant questions about the roles mainstream or citizen journalists or netizens play or ought to play, enlightening audiences successfully about scientific information on COVID-19 in a pandemic that magnifies social inequality and unequal access to health care, challenging popular beliefs about health and disease prevention and the role of government while the entire world pays close attention." (Publisher description)
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