A typical reaction to misinformation is to dismiss it or to wish it would disappear. But Anita Makri says we would be better served by examining it closely.
Interview with Anita Makri
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The spread of the coronavirus across the world is viral, in the common, medical sense of the term. A parallel pandemic has simultaneously erupted, too: A virtual, viral infodemic of misinformation.
Anita Makri writes from London on science and global development, and has covered previous health emergencies, including the 2014 Ebola epidemic in west Africa. Lessons learned then can help to dispel rumors and myths about COVID-19, Makri asserts. To battle misinformation successfully, she says, we must try to understand it.
A typical reaction to misinformation is to dismiss it, or to wish it would disappear. In an essay originally appearing in Undark (and later republished by the London School of Economics), Makri explains why we would be better served by examining it closely.
“There is an impulse to correct that is a long tradition in science and even in science journalism,” she tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “There is an impulse to say, ‘No, we have the right answer because we’ve done the research.’ But more and more, we are realizing that sometimes that impulse isn’t entirely correct and that there is also value in trying to understand why people hold the views that they do.”
