Abstract

Conspiracy theories about the ‘real’ origins of the coronavirus have co-evolved with media coverage of the COVID-19 crisis itself; the World Health Organization now warns about a global “infodemic” paralleling the viral pandemic. Covering these conspiracy theories presents difficult editorial choices for news organizations. This article examines how diverse news outlets chose to report on one key COVID-19 conspiracy theory: the (entirely unfounded) claim that 5G telecommunications technology severely worsened or even caused the pandemic. We draw on online article data from the global news database GDELT to examine the coverage of COVID/5G conspiracy theories: we trace the changing nature of conspiracist claims; chart the expansion of coverage from fringe media to respected mainstream outlets; and pay particular attention to key stories that significantly increase the reach of reporting about this conspiracy theory. Arising from this analysis are new questions for journalists: what role does their coverage of such conspiracy theories play in amplifying them? Are there newsbeats that are particularly vulnerable to problematic information? Can they adjust their reporting to avoid aiding the circulation of conspiracist ideas?

摘要

关于冠状病毒“真实”起源的阴谋论与媒体对 COVID-19 危机本身的报道共同演变；世界卫生组织现在警告说，与病毒大流行平行的全球“信息流行病”。报道这些阴谋论给新闻机构带来了艰难的编辑选择。本文研究了不同的新闻媒体如何选择报道一个关键的 COVID-19 阴谋论：（完全没有根据的）声称 5G 电信技术严重恶化甚至导致大流行的说法。我们利用来自全球新闻数据库 GDELT 的在线文章数据来检查 COVID/5G 阴谋论的覆盖面：我们追踪阴谋论主张的不断变化的性质；绘制从边缘媒体到受人尊敬的主流媒体的报道范围；并特别关注那些显着增加有关该阴谋论的报道范围的关键故事。这种分析给记者带来了新的问题：他们对这种阴谋论的报道在放大它们方面发挥了什么作用？是否存在特别容易受到问题信息影响的新闻报道？他们能否调整他们的报道以避免助长阴谋论的传播？