Communication in times of pandemic : information, disinformation, and provisional lessons from the coronavirus crisis Comunicación en tiempos de pandemia: información, desinformación y lecciones provisionales de la crisis del coronavirus
Casino, Gonzalo (Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau)

Date:	2022
Abstract:	Objective: To characterise the infodemic associated with the COVID-19 and to analyse information consumption, trust in sources, the role of the media and government communication, focusing in the case of Spain, as well as to discuss some provisional communication lessons from studies on this and other pandemics. Method: Bibliographic search in PubMed and Scopus and review of selected documents with the criteria of relevance to the objectives and the Spanish setting. Results: The COVID-19 pandemic has overlapped with an infodemic that has led to the largest avalanche of disinformation known to date and to difficulties in finding reliable information for almost half of the population. In Spain, information consumption has focused on traditional media and WhatsApp; the media were relatively well-rated and helped understand the pandemic, although they are considered less trustworthy in Spain than in other Western countries. The analysis of Spanish government communication shows errors such as overly reassuring messages at the beginning of the pandemic, lack of transparency, excess of information and the spokesperson model adopted. Conclusions: Knowledge about the infodemic associated with COVID-19 is fragmentary and insufficient. Even though the health crisis is not closed for adequate evaluation, some provisional communication lessons can be drawn. The complexity of the disinformation phenomenon requires considering infodemiology as a scientific discipline to understand both the spread of disinformation and the spread of disease.
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Castellà
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	COVID-19 ; Infodemic ; Communication ; Disinformation ; Crisis communication ; Risk communication ; Media ; Spain
Published in:	Gaceta sanitaria, Vol. 36 (enero 2022) , p. S97-S104, ISSN 1578-1283

DOI: 10.1016/j.gaceta.2022.01.003
PMID: 35781157

8 p, 2.3 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Health sciences and biosciences > Institut de Recerca Sant Pau
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles