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Many healthcare professionals and students are equally incapable of spotting fake news

Staff Writer
Staff Writer 2 years ago
Updated 2021/03/12 at 12:10 AM
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In a new German study published in PLOS One, healthcare professionals did no better than students at spotting false news stories pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic.

From the journal report: “Our main findings are: (i) Healthcare professionals perform similar to students in correctly distinguishing between true and false news stories.”

It continues by stating: “(ii) The propensity to engage in analytical thinking and actively open-minded thinking is positively associated with the ability to distinguish between true and false. (iii) We find that the residence of the subjects (East- or West-Germany) plays only a minor role. (iv) If news stories are in line with existing narratives, subjects tend to think that the stories are true.”

The findings arose at a time when the Director-General of the World Health Organization had declared an “infodemic” given the scope of information exchanging on social media pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic.


“Our study shows that individuals are vulnerable to false news information, regardless of their level of education and expertise. In this realm, narratives seem to matter: communication of the mass media influences people’s perception of the state of the world,” researchers concluded in their report.

Photo: Shutterstock

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TAGGED: epidemiology, mass media, News
Staff Writer March 11, 2021
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