The year 2020 is mostly behind us. However, it would not be forgotten in a hurry. It will forever be remembered for COVID-19 and raise questions of how we, with all our technological and modern advancements, could have done something differently and/better in how we responded or failed to respond to the pandemic. In addition, especially with regard to the U.S. Presidential elections, a number of questions were also raised about institutional integrity, democratic processes, authoritarianism, transfer of power, social protests and the role of social institutions in preserving the rule of law and order. From a communication perspective, these two issues also lend themselves to further study—Apophenia, the credibility and importance of good information, the dangers of disinformation, the role of the media and the intended and unintended consequences of such actions by state and non-state players. The eclectic collection of articles in this journal do address some relevant questions about similar issues.

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社论

2020年几乎已经过去。但是，它不会被匆忙忘记。COVID-19将永远铭记在心，并提出一个问题，即我们在我们的所有技术和现代进步下如何在应对或未能应对这种大流行方面做得与众不同和/或更好。此外，特别是在美国总统大选方面，还提出了一些有关机构廉正，民主进程，威权主义，权力移交，社会抗议以及社会机构在维护法治中的作用的问题。从沟通的角度来看，这两个问题也很适合进一步研究：Apophenia，良好信息的信誉和重要性，虚假信息的危险，媒体的作用以及国家和非国家行为者的这种行为的预期和非预期的后果。该杂志折衷的文章集确实解决了有关类似问题的一些相关问题。