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Media Representations of Science during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Analysis of News and Social Media on the Island of Ireland

COVID-19 is arguably the most critical science communication challenge of a generation, yet comes in the wake of a purported populist turn against scientific expertise in western societies. This study advances understanding of science–society relations during the COVID-19 pandemic by analysing how s...

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Autores principales: O’Connor, Cliodhna, O’Connell, Nicola, Burke, Emma, Nolan, Ann, Dempster, Martin, Graham, Christopher D., Nicolson, Gail, Barry, Joseph, Scally, Gabriel, Crowley, Philip, Zgaga, Lina, Mather, Luke, Darker, Catherine D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8470699/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34574465
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189542
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author O’Connor, Cliodhna
O’Connell, Nicola
Burke, Emma
Nolan, Ann
Dempster, Martin
Graham, Christopher D.
Nicolson, Gail
Barry, Joseph
Scally, Gabriel
Crowley, Philip
Zgaga, Lina
Mather, Luke
Darker, Catherine D.
author_facet O’Connor, Cliodhna
O’Connell, Nicola
Burke, Emma
Nolan, Ann
Dempster, Martin
Graham, Christopher D.
Nicolson, Gail
Barry, Joseph
Scally, Gabriel
Crowley, Philip
Zgaga, Lina
Mather, Luke
Darker, Catherine D.
author_sort O’Connor, Cliodhna
collection PubMed
description COVID-19 is arguably the most critical science communication challenge of a generation, yet comes in the wake of a purported populist turn against scientific expertise in western societies. This study advances understanding of science–society relations during the COVID-19 pandemic by analysing how science was represented in news and social media coverage of COVID-19 on the island of Ireland. Thematic analysis was performed on a dataset comprising 952 news articles and 603 tweets published between 1 January and 31 May 2020. Three themes characterised the range of meanings attached to science: ‘Defining science: Its subjects, practice and process’, ‘Relating to science: Between veneration and suspicion’ and ‘Using science: As solution, policy and rhetoric’. The analysis suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic represented a platform to highlight the value, philosophy, process and day-to-day activity of scientific research. However, the study also identified risks the pandemic might pose to science communication, including feeding public alienation by disparaging lay understandings, reinforcing stereotypical images of scientists, and amplifying the politicisation of scientific statements.
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spelling pubmed-84706992021-09-27 Media Representations of Science during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Analysis of News and Social Media on the Island of Ireland O’Connor, Cliodhna O’Connell, Nicola Burke, Emma Nolan, Ann Dempster, Martin Graham, Christopher D. Nicolson, Gail Barry, Joseph Scally, Gabriel Crowley, Philip Zgaga, Lina Mather, Luke Darker, Catherine D. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article COVID-19 is arguably the most critical science communication challenge of a generation, yet comes in the wake of a purported populist turn against scientific expertise in western societies. This study advances understanding of science–society relations during the COVID-19 pandemic by analysing how science was represented in news and social media coverage of COVID-19 on the island of Ireland. Thematic analysis was performed on a dataset comprising 952 news articles and 603 tweets published between 1 January and 31 May 2020. Three themes characterised the range of meanings attached to science: ‘Defining science: Its subjects, practice and process’, ‘Relating to science: Between veneration and suspicion’ and ‘Using science: As solution, policy and rhetoric’. The analysis suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic represented a platform to highlight the value, philosophy, process and day-to-day activity of scientific research. However, the study also identified risks the pandemic might pose to science communication, including feeding public alienation by disparaging lay understandings, reinforcing stereotypical images of scientists, and amplifying the politicisation of scientific statements. MDPI 2021-09-10 /pmc/articles/PMC8470699/ /pubmed/34574465 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189542 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
O’Connor, Cliodhna
O’Connell, Nicola
Burke, Emma
Nolan, Ann
Dempster, Martin
Graham, Christopher D.
Nicolson, Gail
Barry, Joseph
Scally, Gabriel
Crowley, Philip
Zgaga, Lina
Mather, Luke
Darker, Catherine D.
Media Representations of Science during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Analysis of News and Social Media on the Island of Ireland
title Media Representations of Science during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Analysis of News and Social Media on the Island of Ireland
title_full Media Representations of Science during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Analysis of News and Social Media on the Island of Ireland
title_fullStr Media Representations of Science during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Analysis of News and Social Media on the Island of Ireland
title_full_unstemmed Media Representations of Science during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Analysis of News and Social Media on the Island of Ireland
title_short Media Representations of Science during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Analysis of News and Social Media on the Island of Ireland
title_sort media representations of science during the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic: a qualitative analysis of news and social media on the island of ireland
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8470699/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34574465
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189542
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