Science journalism in the Anthropocene
Brandon Wei
I found this module’s readings directly related to my final research project in the journalism program, which is titled “Science journalism in the Anthropocene.”
My main argument is that the digital age has completely revolutionized how news is communicated. I examined science news specifically, but I argue the trends in that beat apply to journalism as a whole, which I’ll discuss here.
Like section 3.1 of the textbook cites, most Americans get their news from social media. I find that to be a likely trend for Canadians, too. It’s a double-edged sword, because both facts and fiction can spread freely online, leaving it up to users to parse through the noise to the truth. This used to be more of journalism’s role, I argue, when the spread of information depended on the newspaper space said information received. Now, organizations, researchers, politicians, and conspiracy theorists have access to online platforms to share their views (often presented as news) largely bypassing the fact-checking and gate-keeping that exists in journalism.
Scientists must adapt to communicating digitally, the textbook describes, and I argue: so do journalists. Many career reporters feel like “digital immigrants” still learning to apply a “digital mindset” to storytelling. The Internet has changed the way stories are told — with physical page space no longer a factor — and when they’re told. The Internet is only a click away at any second of any day. This has created a culture of immediacy for news, with the latest headlines no longer limited to the morning’s paper or the 6 o’clock news hour. People want news in real time, all the time. A few newsrooms I’ve interned at have started adjusting by having a social media plan specific to each platform’s demographics described in the text, posting and re-posting stories on social accounts at high-traffic hours, and tagging reporters, sources in the story, and other high profile accounts that have large followings. I think the biggest surprise for me was how editors write separate headlines for link previews of stories on Facebook and Twitter (called SEO headlines) than the headline that appears at the top of the piece when you’re reading it.
But the digital space also presents a lot of opportunity for both scientists and journalists to communicate with the public and each other. Journalism has traditionally been a monologue: information flows from scientist to reporter to the public. End of story. Now, digital venues also provide space for dialogue with all three camps. This allows for feedback which, yes, can be full of nonsensical and false information at times, but it can also allow experts to fact-check journalists’ articles, provide further insight to an issue raised in a story, and share said stories more easily than lending someone a copy of one’s newspaper. All they have to do is click retweet.
Much like the geological Anthropocene, journalism is in a period of intense change and uncertainty. How the current conditions of the digital age will affect journalism in years to come remains to be seen. It all depends on how we adapt and act on them.
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Module 6 Blog Post: Fighting a Pandemic Besides Coronavirus; Risk Communication
Gabrielle Hadly
After reading about the different roles of various social media platforms in this modules’ readings, I wanted to dive into some further research on social media in regard to pandemic and infectious disease outbreak scenarios and risk communication.
Pandemic outbreaks are characterized by many areas of uncertainty or evolving science, to name a few: the unpredictable and changing details related to the potential scale, risk, and severity of the outbreak, the differing categories of vulnerable people and the patterns of mortality. These components create challenges for clear, consistent, and understandable messages.
As we have seen with the most recent COVID-19 outbreak, one major challenge has been combating the spread of misinformation and rumor mongering. Due to the nature of social media algorithms users can find themselves in echo chambers, where people surround themselves entirely with ideas they already agree with, whether they are backed by science or not. This means, public health organizations and governments can no longer simply issue directives to passive masses, but they must also monitor social media platforms during pandemics to note and nip misinformation in the bud.
For example: A new alliance between the U.N and big tech companies has been successful in combating misinformation during the current outbreak. The W.H.O. teamed with Pinterest, so that whenever users search ‘coronavirus’ they get a link to a page for coronavirus “myth busters” from the W.H.O. The U.N has also been in contact with the world’s largest and most powerful disseminators of information such as: Facebook, Twitter, and Google. An additional strategy to address misinformation has been The W.H.O’s regular posts on their Instagram and Twitter pages to respond to direct rumors that are being circulated on digital platforms (see below).
In summary, in pandemic and infectious disease outbreak situations social medial platforms present many opportunities for risk communication but also many barriers and potential problems. Effective risk communication during a pandemic must work to address a variety of goals (myth busting, awareness, preparation) for a wide range of audiences (including science skeptics and conspiracy theorists) on an array of platforms (Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter). And while vast improvements have been made in utilizing social media (especially to combat misinformation) during this outbreak (as compared to the SARS outbreak), there are still gaps to address. For example: Social media platforms like TikTok and Reddit are still influencing hundreds of thousands of people with their document falsehoods about COVID-19. The failure to combat and stop the spread of such misinformation highlights a gap within the current use of social media and opportunities to improve the use of social media in outbreak response situations.
Additional sources to address rumor management on social media:
https://www.who.int/risk-communication/training/Module-E4-pandemic-influenza-exercise.pdf
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Module 6 Blog Post: The Power of the Twitter-Verse
Laura Chow
With the current discussions around COVID-19, I reflected back on other recent public health scares, how they were communicated over Twitter, and what we might learn from them. I was able to find an article from Vijaykumar et al. that detailed the spread of information about Zika virus on Twitter to identify the influencers of different messages tied to the virus.
The article recognizes the shortcomings associated with sources (health professionals, scientists, journalists, celebrities etc) in sharing information with the public. The authors also address the challenges in communicating via Twitter, largely in the interaction with lay people which can contribute to the spread of misinformation.
Vijaykumar et al.’s methodology identified 12 different themes and 12 user groups and considered the ways by which information was amplified through Twitter. The different user groups included health institutions, traditional and online-only media, advocacy organizations, non-health-specific governmental organizations, other organizations, grassroots / regular users, politicians, non-profit, academia.
The findings showed that while health institutions and news media were mentioned at similar frequencies, they varied in terms of the types of themes they were associated with and amplification was essential to their distribution. The most influential users were news media, while grassroots users were the most active tweeters.
The article identified that health agencies must note that their social media presence “may not achieve much visibility or interest in the social conversation” and that grassroots users are large players in spreading information on emerging infectious disease outbreaks. This stresses the need to be aware of what information is being shared is important to ensure they can be appropriately responsive. As a result, the authors identified a need to prioritize messages around calming fears and anxieties that may be triggered by media stories, as well as working with partner organizations to help improve the spread of health agencies’ messages through partner tweet amplification.
The findings of this article emphasize the need for public health agencies to examine their social media presence and their analytics to understand what information is being spread to help direct the message appropriately. Tying together with other lessons shared in the previous modules of this course, the article illustrates how integral it is to understand and know one’s audience – how do they interact and engage with the medium and what information is being spread?
I liked that the article also focuses on the need for health agencies to understand their presence and suggested partnership building. With the local health authorities reaching only a small portion of their populations served with their Twitter following (see current Twitter followers for each of the local health authorities), understanding how people interact with health information on Twitter enables them to improve their messaging and engagement. This will require us to learn more about Twitter as a communication tool, consider how we react to alternative message in the Twitter-verse, and how we can gain more leverage if partnered with others who might amplify our voices with stronger Twitter channels.
Resource: Vijaykumar, S., Nowak, G., Himelboim, I., & Jin, Y. (2018). Virtual Zika transmission after the first U.S. case: who said what and how it spread on Twitter. American Journal of Infection Control, 46(5), 549–557. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2017.10.015
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Module 6 Blog Post: If only I could write him a briefing note…
Nilou Tafreshi
I found the concept of a briefing note really interesting. I guess I knew they existed but never gave them much thought. I found myself watching various white house briefings, health briefings, and our current Canadian government’s briefings trying to imagine what the briefing notes may have looked like. I asked myself: Did Obama use a briefing note for this speech? How much of these words are actually Obamas’? Why do I love Obama so much? Who doesn’t?
Now, let’s look at this video as an example (skip ahead to 0:54)
If he did have a briefing note for this press conference, I imagine it looked something like this:
Purpose
The purpose of the briefing note would have been to share important information regarding ongoing effort to address H1N1 flu virus, preparedness, and specifically to discuss a meeting that took place to help address this issue.
Background
This section probably gave Obama background information regarding H1N1 as well as the timeline of its progression. For example, here Obama most likely learned how they first heard about this virus in the spring. They may have included comparisons to previous similar public health issues such as the Spanish flu. The bit where Obama talks about how typically there are two waves with the second one being larger and in the fall, I bet he learned that here in the background section.
Current status
My guess is that in this section Obama would have read about the status of the flu vaccine as it pertains to clinical trials and the work currently being done on it regarding the vaccines. He would be informed about how the public and media are reacting to the progression of the virus.
Options
Obama would have been given the option of stating facts that could make the issues appear more serious than it might be in order to encourage the public to make drastic changes to their behaviour or for him to take a more mild “all is fine” approach given the current situation and public’s perception of the risks. Another option would have been for him not to address this issue at all at this particular briefing.
Recommendation
The recommendation would probably have been to notify the public about work being done to release vaccines, the fact that the vaccines would not be mandatory, and that at this point there is no reason to panic. The recommendation would heavily highlight the importance of not instilling fear in the public.
I found it very interesting to watch these press briefings regarding H1N1 as they really mirror what is going on now with Coronavirus.
Last but not least…I really miss Obama.