President Trump is the largest individual driver of falsehoods and misinformation surrounding COVID-19, according to researchers at Cornell University, who recently analyzed 38 million articles about the coronavirus pandemic in English-language media from around the world.
Trump’s name appeared in articles that contained misleading information nearly 38 percent of the time, the researchers found. The president’s name was mentioned so often that he was given his own category within the study.
One other category — broadly labeled “misinformation/conspiracies” — accounted for 46.6 percent of misinformative articles. But because Trump was such a frequent purveyor of unsubstantiated claims on how to treat or even cure COVID-19, researchers concluded that it was reasonable to blame him for most of this misinformation, which they described as an “infodemic.”
“It is apparent from the data that mentions of President Trump within the context of COVID-19 misinformation comprise by far the largest single component of the infodemic,” they wrote, noting that mentions of Trump “comprised 37.9% of the overall infodemic, well ahead of ‘miracle cures,’ which comprised 26.4%.”
“However, a substantial proportion — possibly even the majority — of the ‘miracle cures’ topic was also driven by the president’s comments, so a substantial overlap can be expected between these topics,” the researchers added. “We conclude therefore that the President of the United States was likely the largest driver of the COVID-19 misinformation ‘infodemic.'”
Trump’s misleading statements on the coronavirus pandemic are infamous, including several examples of false narratives about its trajectory and unproven cures over the past several months. Trump, for example, suggested early on that warmer temperatures in the spring of 2020 would end the pandemic altogether, a notion that had no scientific basis (and which has obviously since been proven untrue). He also said, without any proof, that exposure to sunlight could help in the treatment of the virus.
The president has also pushed a number of other ineffective, unproven and sometimes deadly remedies for how those who contracted coronavirus could treat it. He constantly pushed the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment, for instance, even after numerous studies found the drug had no effect in helping people and may have even resulted in higher mortality rates. Trump also suggested using disinfectants “by injection inside” the human body as a route for scientists to consider researching, which prompted disinfectant manufacturers to release several statements warning consumers not to use their products in that way.
Although the president was identified in the Cornell study as being the biggest culprit of misinformation when it came to coronavirus, researchers did not just fault him for misleading the public. Several media companies also played a role by acting like stenographers for world leaders.
“By choosing to uncritically report statements and remarks made by influential persons, without necessarily verifying or discounting the accuracy of those claims, [media professionals] risk unwittingly facilitating the dissemination of misinformation,” the paper said, noting also that fact-checking only accounted for 16.4 percent of articles that contained misleading content.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.