Political Pandemonium Workshop 2: The Negative Consequences of Public Health Misinformation: Media Manipulation During the Pandemic
The Technology and Social Change Project’s (TaSC) Political Pandemonium 2020 is a series of four digital workshops exploring the harmful effects of media manipulation on our society. These gatherings each focus on a unique subtopic of interest to both the field of Critical Internet Studies and the broader public concerns about disinformation in elections.
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About the episode
The Negative Consequences of Public Health Misinformation: Media Manipulation during the Pandemic, the second workshop in the series, featured a conversation with Dr. Joan Donovan, Research Director of the Shorenstein Center, Dr. Seema Yasmin, Director of Research and Education at the Stanford Health Communication Initiative, Dr. René Najera, Editor of the History of Vaccines Project, and Brandy Zadrozny, Reporter at NBC News.
This session focused on the dire consequences of misinformation with regards to the current global pandemic and how this will shift expectations of election integrity. Our speakers examined the following questions: How has the coronavirus pandemic created a new political opportunity for media manipulators to polarize US politics? Why have manipulators seen success in this field on a global level? How has failing to respond adequately to the spread of inaccurate information exacerbated the trauma of the event and what are the consequences for different groups?
Guest Speakers
Seema Yasmin is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, public health doctor, epidemiologist, and author. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting with her team at The Dallas Morning News. She served as an officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the U.S. CDC. In 2017, she was selected as a John S. Knight journalism fellow at Stanford University where she studied the spread of misinformation during epidemics and the role of journalists in countering false health news. She is director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative, clinical assistant professor of medicine at Stanford University and a medical analyst for CNN. Her health and science reporting appears in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Scientific American, and WIRED, and she is author of the forthcoming book Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why We Fall for Them.
René Najera is a Doctor of Public Health and Senior Epidemiologist at the Fairfax County Health Department in Fairfax, Virginia. He is also the Editor of the History of Vaccines Project for the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The History of Vaccines Project tracks the numerous milestones in the long history of vaccines. Dr. Najera earned his DrPH in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He also holds a Master of Public Health degree from George Washington University and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Texas at El Paso. In his spare time, Dr. Najera runs, bikes or swims. He is also an amateur photographer and father to a three year old little girl.
Brandy Zadrozny is an award-winning investigative and features reporter for NBC News where she covers misinformation, extremism, and the internet. This year alone, she’s written definitive stories on the QAnon conspiracy, Trump propaganda outlet The Epoch Times, and the profiteers behind the rising anti-vaccination movement and coronavirus misinformation online. Previously, Brandy was at The Daily Beast where she covered politics and the internet as a senior reporter. She has an MLIS and in a former life, worked as a librarian and instructor in news, college, and public libraries.
Meet the Host
Joan Donovan, PhD
Research Director of The Shorenstein Center
Director of The Technology and Social Change Research Project
Affiliations: Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Data & Society, SSRC
Dr. Donovan’s research specializes in Critical Internet Studies, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and the Sociology of Social Movements. Dr. Donovan’s research and expertise has been showcased in a wide array of peer-reviewed journals and media outlets including NPR, Washington Post, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, ABC News, NBC News, Columbia Journalism Review, The Atlantic, Nature, and more.
The Technology and Social Change Research Project focuses on media manipulation, disinformation, political communication, and technology’s relationship to society. Our research explains how media manipulation is a means to control public conversation, derail democracy, and disrupt society. The project conducts research, develops methods, and facilitates workshops for journalists, policy makers, technologists, and civil society organizations on how to detect, document, and debunk media manipulation campaigns. The project is creating a research platform called the Media Manipulation Case Book, which will include 100 case studies to advance our knowledge of how misinformation travels across the web and platforms.
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