Influence of Media Regulation Mechanisms on the Infodemic Narrative Process (A Comparative Analysis of the Media Environment of Pakistan and Norway).

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic media all over the world have faced a new challenge – an infodemic, which is defined as a rapid increase in information volume of varying degrees of reliability related to a particular event in a short period of time. Indepth fact-checking of such great amount of media coverage during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic turned out to be impossible even for journalists in those countries where extremely reliable tools for verifying information had been in place long before the pandemic. This study hypothesizes that in countries with strict media control, exercised by the authorities, an infodemic is a more serious problem than in democratic and pluralistic countries, which in turn often leads to fatal consequences for citizens (e.g., vaccination refusal or boycott of personal protective equipment). The media systems of Pakistan and Norway have been chosen for the comparative analysis, as well as the infodemic narratives of these two states circulating in the media. This choice was based on Norway’s first place in the press freedom ranking and one of the lowest scores in this ranking by Pakistan at the same time. The authors came to the following conclusion: The more substantial the influence of the authorities on the media is, the more frequently they become a source of dissemination of inaccurate information, which results in a decrease of trust in the media. At the same time, the independence from government structures and the influence of politicians allows the media to restructure their work quickly and successfully cope with an infodemic and its consequences.