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Boosting Booster Trust: Negotiating a Jungle of Misinformation

Authors :
Marina Bondi
Jessica Jane Nocella
Source :
Lingue Culture Mediazioni, Vol 10, Iss 2, Pp 135-154 (2023)
Publication Year :
2023
Publisher :
LED - Edizioni Universitarie di Lettere Economia Diritto, 2023.

Abstract

Abstract Misinformation, disinformation, and fake news are available across diverse media, causing distrust in governmental and health institutions. In this context, the use of language has been of great interest in research, specifically in health communication, on social media, and in traditional news media. Our aim is to analyse and compare how the successive doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been presented in different forms of knowledge communication, namely scientific research papers and the media, including online magazines and newspaper articles. By focusing on frequency, collocates, and phraseology of booster and dose, we trace differences in how boosters are presented in both lay and professional contexts of communication. Scientific discourse shows a marked preference for the more neutral and cautious term dose, which is also associated with the description of administration procedures. News discourse is characterised both by a higher incidence of the word booster (implying a reinforcement of an already existing immunity) and by the choice of referring to the institutional voices recommending vaccines. Results shed light on how different discourses manifest their perceived functions through lexical choice, as well as how news discourse uses and reinterprets scientific discourse in the light of what is relevant to the audience.

Details

Language :
English, Spanish; Castilian, French, Italian
ISSN :
22841881 and 24210293
Volume :
10
Issue :
2
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Lingue Culture Mediazioni
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.24fa8c635ddb4c46ae8bc18c2426f90b
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.7358/lcm-2023-002-bono