An Ongoing Infodemic: How People in Eight Countries Access News and Information about Coronavirus a Year into the Pandemic

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism 2021

38 Pages Posted: 28 Jun 2021

See all articles by Rasmus Kleis Nielsen

Rasmus Kleis Nielsen

University of Oxford - Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

Anne Schulz

University of Oxford - Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

Richard Fletcher

University of Oxford - Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

Date Written: May 27, 2021

Abstract

In this report, we use survey data collected in April 2021 to document and understand how people in eight countries (Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Spain, the UK, and the US) accessed news and information about COVID-19 more than a year into the global pandemic. We examine how they rate the trustworthiness of the different sources and platforms they rely on, how much misinformation they say they encounter, and how they see vaccines. For six of the countries (where we have comparable data from April 2020), we track changes over the last year.

Keywords: trust, misinformation, news, coronavirus, social media, COVID-19

Suggested Citation

Nielsen, Rasmus Kleis and Schulz, Anne and Fletcher, Richard, An Ongoing Infodemic: How People in Eight Countries Access News and Information about Coronavirus a Year into the Pandemic (May 27, 2021). Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism 2021, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3873257

Rasmus Kleis Nielsen

University of Oxford - Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism ( email )

13 Norham Gardens
Oxford, OX2 6PS
United Kingdom

Anne Schulz

University of Oxford - Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism ( email )

13 Norham Gardens
Oxford, OX2 6PS
United Kingdom

Richard Fletcher (Contact Author)

University of Oxford - Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism ( email )

13 Norham Gardens
Oxford, OX2 6PS
United Kingdom

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