Mis- and Disinformation About Covid-19

Challenges for Health Communication

Authors

  • Sabrina Heike Kessler Department of Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich, Switzerland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1858-7041
  • Philipp Schmid Media and Communication Science, University of Erfurt, Germany; Health Communication, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2966-0806

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47368/ejhc.2022.200

Keywords:

misinformation, disinformation, Covid-19 pandemic, prebunking, debunking

Abstract

Misinformation and disinformation pose major challenges to effective health communication around the globe during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this special issue, we present research on mis- and disinformation about Covid-19 in the European context and describe challenges and potential solutions for health communication. More specifically, the special issue features articles that analyse (a) the prevalence of mis- and disinformation beliefs about Covid-19 and their impact on individuals, as well as the drivers of these beliefs and (b) the effectiveness of potential prebunking and debunking interventions to combat mis- and disinformation. The articles demonstrate the relevance of political attitudes and media use as significant predictors of belief in health misinformation and tested a variety of effective interventions– from pausing to think critically to detailed debunking. Together, the collection of articles serves to support the evidence-based efforts of international organisations, governments, social media technology companies, and major academic institutions to address the problem of health mis- and disinformation.

Downloads

Published

22.09.2022

How to Cite

Kessler, S. H., & Schmid, P. (2022). Mis- and Disinformation About Covid-19: Challenges for Health Communication. European Journal of Health Communication, 3(2), I-VI. https://doi.org/10.47368/ejhc.2022.200

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2022): Special Issue on Mis- and Disinformation About Covid-19: Challenges for Health Communication

Section

Editorial

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Sabrina Heike Kessler, Philipp Schmid

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The authors agree to the following license and copyright agreement:

a. Authors retain copyright in their work.

b. Authors grant the European Journal of Health Communication the right of first publication online on the internet (on the publication platform HOPE of the Main Library of the University of Zurich).

c. The electronic contributions on the internet are distributed under the „Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International“- License (CC BY 4.0). This license allows others to copy and redistribute the work in any medium or format, to remix, transform and build upon the material with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in the European Journal of Health Communication . These conditions are irrevocable. The full text of the license may be read under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

d. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of their work, as long as the conditions of the CC BY 4.0 License are fulfilled and initial publication in the European Journal of Health Communication is acknowledged.

e. Authors grant the Editors commercial rights, using a publishing house, to produce hardcopy volumes of the journal for sale to libraries and individuals, as well as to integrate the manuscript, its title, and its abstract in databases, abstracting and indexing services, and other similar information services.

f. This agreement is subject to possible legal disclosure obligations.

g. This agreement is governed by Swiss law. Court of jurisdiction is Zürich.