Misinformation about COVID-19 from the media of Russia and China in Europe with more clout than a local media research
News about COVID-19 in French, German and Spanish, published by the state media of China, Russia, Iran and Turkey, have a greater impact and broader audience than local publications of these countries. About it it is spoken in research of the Oxford Internet Institute.
In particular, the audience of the news in French, which published the Russian media, Russia Today (RT), five times more of the audience reading the news on the same topic in the popular French newspaper Le Monde.
However, Chinese radio international has reached in Spain four times as much to attract the audience than the leading Spanish newspaper El Pais.
“The government-sponsored media from China, Iran, Russia and Turkey news about the coronavirus aimed at social media users who speak French, German and Spanish around the world. Many of these publications combine accurate, factual information about the coronavirus with misleading or false information that may lead to more uncertainty among the public trying to understand the meaning of pandemic COVID-19” – said researcher of the Oxford Internet Institute Catarina Rebello.
The researchers also found that the Russian edition of writing the news about COVID-19 in French and German languages, is constantly focused on the weak democratic institutions and civil unrest in Europe. Chinese and Turkish editions, producing Spanish-language content, announced the leadership of their countries in the fight against the pandemic.
Flash coronavirus infection COVID-19 began in late 2019 in China. March 11, 2020, the world health organization declared the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.