O Mundo da Saúde (Apr 2021)
Categories of fake news about COVID-19 disseminated in the first year of the pandemic in Brazil
Abstract
The objective of this study was to analyze the false news about COVID-19 disseminated in Brazil during the first year of the pandemic in the country. This was a documentary type study, which investigated the fake news inserted in the Coronaverificado.news platform until February 27, 2021, totaling 938 news items, which were submitted to the IRaMuTeQ software, resulting in the Descending Hierarchical Classification. This enabled the clarification of four thematic categories analyzed with theoretical and methodological support from Hermeneutics-dialectics. The results revealed social networks as the most used vehicles for sending fake news (n=625; 66.6%), whose contents were predominantly texts (n=488; 52%). In the categorization of subjects, “Government and authorities” was the category that concentrated the most widespread subjects (56.6%), followed by “Development and application of vaccines” (14.8%), revealing the multifaceted scope and intention of the fake news items, which confuse the population and encourage adherence to unsafe practices. It is essential that the mass media function as a vehicle for reliable scientific and technical content about COVID-19's coping actions, since true communication associated with the ethical commitment of government officials will help to reduce the risk of people's inappropriate behavior, aiding the conscious adoption of measures that promote overall health in the pandemic and post-pandemic context.
