Review article
https://doi.org/10.46640/imr.10.18.2
Media and Health – “Angel and Devil”
Ivana Marasović Šušnjara
orcid.org/0000-0001-6105-7180
; Teaching Institute for Public Health, Split - Dalmatia County, Split
Maja Vejić
Abstract
All media have been flooded with news related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Top scientists have been addressing the public more frequently than ever before. In addition to positive attitudes, there have also been negative ones. In the midst of the pandemic, information about health systems that cannot respond adequately, a large number of deaths, and the lack of vaccines provoked a number of unwanted reactions, such as fear and associated disorders. Bad news kept coming. They were followed by conspiracy theories. Certain groups set out to find information they wanted to accept as true on various social networks.
Should the media be allowed to inform about health without check, should they be allowed to pass on “fake news” in the domain of illness and health, or even manipulate information?
They shouldn’t? In order to minimize the negative impacts, there should be mutual responsibility of experts and the media in presenting health-related topics and in disseminating useful and credible information, whereby the media literacy of the end users is indispensable.
Keywords
media; health; pandemic; infodemic; COVID-19
Hrčak ID:
257918
URI
Publication date:
26.5.2021.
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