The word “infodemia” is sometimes used in different meanings. By the way, it was this term that our student, who participated in the journalism Olympiad, was asked to explain.
The word is a recently emerged word, formed from the words “information” and “epidemic”. Infodemy is an excessive amount of information (one of its basic meanings), in other words “information epidemic”.
On the one hand, a lot of information is good, there is a lot to choose from. On the other hand, a person is lost in the volume of information and cannot make a right choice.
Let’s say, there was an emergency in the city – people were poisoned by drinking water. To get the necessary amount of information and make the right conclusion, it is enough to see/read the official information from state agencies, talk to acquaintances about the topic and watch a couple of local media. And if there is very, very much information? If all the social networks will be flooded with messages, including the most incredible ones? What if all the media report about it, including different points of view? What if community activists hold a meeting on the street to explain their side of the story? Such chaos of information can be detrimental.
Also, infodemia is a great distraction from other topics. For example, for example, if a major official was taken for a bribe, but they want to divert him from responsibility without too much attention to the story. Yes, one media outlet has already written about the arrest and social networks are talking about it, but what if there is a lot of news about another topic and it diverts people’s attention? Manipulators take some topic and begin to inflate it, exaggerate it, and publish it in various media outlets. And now no one is interested in a corrupt former official, but in, say, the topic of possible demolition of historic buildings.
Now the term “infodemia” is often used in relation to the situation with coronavirus. At the same time, it is used in different meanings. Both when they accuse some forces of exaggerating the problem, and when they believe that the whole pandemic is designed to distract people from the real political situation in the world, and when they talk about those who deny the coronavirus problem.
