“…social media allows anyone to spread disinformation and misinformation quickly and anonymously. During the pandemic, fake news, hoax theories and pseudo-science ran rampant across social media…”
What are the main epidemics that your team focuses on?
I’m a fourth and final year undergraduate communication and journalism student at The University of Queensland. I joined the UK Media and Epidemics team for a short period under the supervision of PI Melissa Dickson as a recipient of a Winter Research Scholarship from the University of Queensland, Australia. This Media and Epidemics Winter Research Project is my first taste of academic research beyond my university studies.
The Research Scholarship team focuses on the Coronavirus pandemic and the years leading up to it. Our research timeframe extends from 2000 to 2024.
What have your key research question(s) been this month?
- What are the working conditions and challenges of medical professionals at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and how did the hospital deal with the pandemic?
- What were the reasons underpinning the junior doctor strikes across the UK in 2016?
- What factors affected doctors regarding employment, pay, strikes and working conditions before, during and after the pandemic?
Have you found any key differences between how the epidemic disease experiences of marginalised or minority individuals, and between those of the general population, have been communicated?
Some suggested that “the virus is racist”1, positioning COVID-19 as being responsible for higher illness and death rates among racial minorities – perhaps to avoid the blame. Conversely, others argued that Coronavirus simply shed light on the health inequalities already established in the UK.
Studies found that black people were four times more likely than white people to die from coronavirus-related sickness. Black and minority ethnic (BAME) health and social care workers were also disproportionately affected. The first 10 doctors to die from COVID-19 were BAME, with reports suggesting that BAME health workers faced bullying and harassment when asking for proper protection. Additionally, reporting highlighted how pregnant health staff were pressured to continue working during the height of the pandemic.
To what extent have you found that differing technologies can change how epidemics have been communicated? Are there any particular technologies that you wish to highlight?
The rise of social media and the 24-hour news cycle significantly impacted the COVID-19 discourse. While broadcast, print and online news reporting is driven by journalists and media organisations with standards to uphold, social media allows anyone to spread disinformation and misinformation quickly and anonymously. During the pandemic, fake news, hoax theories and pseudo-science ran rampant across social media, with the coronavirus 5G conspiracy theory being just one example. Old footage – like that of the 2011 London riots – was also re-disseminated on social media to mislead users. And it’s not just the public-facing social media platforms that are the problem – private messaging apps also facilitate the spread of disinformation, with the added downside that it’s harder to identify and stop.
What has been your most surprising finding while working on the Media and Epidemics project?
I’ve learned so much that has surprised me, and one of those findings is the number and longevity of issues in the National Health Service. Initially, I read about unsurprising issues like staff shortages, pay disputes and health workers’ heavy workloads. However, as I dug deeper, I realised that many deep-seated issues existed across our research timeframe. I found that the NHS has a secretive and blameful organisational culture plagued by bullying, harassment and discrimination. I’ve read about staff being gagged from speaking publicly about hospitals’ failings, and those who do blow the whistle being dismissed, blacklisted and dragged through years of court battles. Add the fact that the NHS is underfunded, and it’s no wonder staff have low morale and the health service struggles to retain and recruit workers.
- Bamrah, J., & Chand, K. (2020, Jul 3). The best birthday present for the NHS? An end to its institutional racism. The Guardian. ↩︎
You can follow Jess on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jess-laven-6058b8207/
Media and Epidemics (MEDEP) 