ABSTRACT

The rapid circulation of COVID-19 misinformation posed one of the most vexing challenges to health communication scholars and practitioners during the pandemic. Within the communication field, our response to health misinformation has often focused on shoring up public trust in scientific knowledge and amplifying institutional expertise. But this strategy of rebuilding public trust in institutions has a serious weakness: it requires the leaders of these institutions to actually behave in ways that merit trust. This essay tells the story of one such moment when the actions of university leaders threatened to undermine public faith in George Mason University’s “safe return to campus” plan. The essay then discusses how a mobilized and organized faculty helped counter this threat by demanding that university leaders embrace transparency, decision-maker accountability, and a commitment to truth-telling based on science.

摘要

COVID-19 错误信息的迅速传播给健康传播学者和从业者带来了大流行期间最棘手的挑战之一。在传播领域，我们对健康错误信息的反应通常集中在增强公众对科学知识的信任和扩大机构专业知识上。但这种重建公众对机构信任的策略有一个严重的弱点：它要求这些机构的领导者以值得信任的方式实际行事。这篇文章讲述了这样一个时刻，大学领导的行为威胁到公众对乔治梅森大学“安全重返校园”计划的信心。这篇文章然后讨论了一个动员和有组织的教师如何通过要求大学领导者接受透明度来帮助应对这一威胁，