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Pillars of Russia's Disinformation and Propaganda Ecosystem

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State (2020), 76 pp.

"Russia has operationalized the concept of perpetual adversarial competition in the information environment by encouraging the development of a disinformation and propaganda ecosystem that allows for varied and overlapping approaches that reinforce each other even when individual messages within the ... system appear contradictory. This ecosystem reflects both the sources of disinformation and propaganda—official government statements, state-funded media outlets, proxy websites, bots, false social media personas, cyber-enabled disinformation operations, etc.—and the different tactics that these channels use. Russia’s willingness to employ this approach provides it with three perceived advantages. First, it allows for the introduction of numerous variations of the same false narratives. This allows for the different pillars of the ecosystem to fine tune their disinformation narratives to suit different target audiences because there is no need for consistency, as there would be with attributed government communications. Second, it provides plausible deniability for Kremlin officials when proxy sites peddle blatant and dangerous disinformation, allowing them to deflect criticism while still introducing pernicious information. Third, it creates a media multiplier effect among the different pillars of the ecosystem that boost their reach and resonance. The media multiplier effect can, at times, create disinformation storms with potentially dangerous effects for those Russia perceives as adversaries at the international, national, and local level. In the past, Russia has leveraged this dynamic to shield itself from criticism for its involvement in malign activity. This approach also allows Russia to be opportunistic, such as with COVID-19, where it has used the global pandemic as a hook to push longstanding disinformation and propaganda narratives [...] This report provides a visual representation of the ecosystem described above, as well as an example of the media multiplier effect it enables. This serves to demonstrate how the different pillars of the ecosystem play distinct roles and feed off of and bolster each other. The report also includes brief profiles of select proxy sites and organizations that occupy an intermediate role between the pillars of the ecosystem with clear links to Russia and those that are meant to be fully deniable." (Pages 5-7) more

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Types, Sources, and Claims of COVID-19 Misinformation

J. Scott Brennen, Felix M. Simon, Philip N. Howard, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2020), 13 pp.

"In this RISJ factsheet we identify some of the main types, sources, and claims of COVID-19 misinformation seen so far. We analyse a sample of 225 pieces of misinformation rated false or misleading by factcheckers and published in English between January and the end of March 2020, drawn from a colle ... more

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Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start - and Why They Don't Go Away
Quick Overview

Heidi Larson

New York: Oxford University Press (2020), xli, 157 pp.

"A clear-eyed, expert examination of the state of vaccine confidence globally -- and what it means for the future of life on earth. Considers the widening gulf between messages of medical authority and those on everyman platforms of our digital world, especially as it influences individual choice. C ... more

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Real-Time Rumor Tracking for COVID-19: System Design and Implementation Guide

Breakthrough Action; USAID (2020), 27 pp.

"This document is written for humanitarian or public health organizations as well as national governments seeking to document rumors in a systematic and dynamic fashion. First, the document provides an overview of the role of rumors in a public health or humanitarian emergency, followed by a summary ... more

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A Communicator's Guide to COVID-19 Vaccination: Research, Theories, Models, and Recommendations Communicators Should Know

Tina McCorkindale et al.

Institute for Public Relations (2020), 42 pp.

"The purpose of this guide is to highlight research, theories, models, and research-driven recommendations that will help ensure effective communication strategies for organizations worldwide. The Institute for Public Relations has reviewed more than 100 research articles to assemble this guide. Bel ... more

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Online environmental news stories in India during the COVID-19 pandemic: Reporting the ‘crisis’ and ‘concerns’ of the natural ecosystem

Ram Awtar Yadav

Journal of Environmental Media, volume 1, issue Supplement (2020), pp. 2.1-2.7

"This article is a review of the online news reports about the ‘humanitarian crisis’ that surfaced in India as thousands of migrant workers struggled to return home during the nationwide lockdown triggered by COVID-19. With several newspaper editions unable to print and circulate amid lockdown, ... more

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Expanding Connectivity to Fight COVID-19: Recommendations for Governments and Telcos

Eric Null

Access Now (2020), 15 pp.

"Both international and domestic laws recognize that extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary measures. The COVID-19 pandemic is such an extraordinary circumstance, and it requires that telecommunications companies (“telcos”) and governments take extraordinary measures to ensure that pe ... more

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Global Rumour Bulletin

Internews (2020), 10 pp.

"For the last 6 months, the Internews' Rooted in Trust project has collected more than 5,238 rumours from seven countries: Afghanistan, Lebanon, Philippines, Colombia, Central African Republic, Mali and Sudan. We work in 12 local languages and collect data across seven major social media platforms a ... more

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COVID-19 Vaccination Communication: Applying Behavioral and Social Science to Address Vaccine Hesitancy and Foster Vaccine Confidence

Sylvia Chou Wen-Ying, Caitlin E. Burgdorf, Anna Gaysynsky, Christine M. Hunter

National Institutes of Health (NIH) (2020), 23 pp.

"This report, which was developed in consultation with leading experts in social and behavioral sciences and public health, outlines evidence-informed communication strategies in support of national COVID-19 vaccine distribution efforts across federal agencies and their state and local partners. The ... more

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Research Report on Ugandan Media Coverage of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Public Affairs, May-September 2020

Kampala: African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) (2020), 49 pp.

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Fact-Checking and Source Verification Manual in Times of COVID-19: Journalists and Media Organizations

Maryam Saeed, Seerat Khan, Muhammad Usman

Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) (2020), 50 pp.

"Without proper training in digital news verification, the dissemination of misinformation is both rapid and disastrous. Journalists are often processing a massive amount of information through social media with very little time to verify it--this presents unique challenges for journalists working w ... more

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Information Ecosystem Assessment: Migrants in Thailand During COVID-19

Pamela A. Mallinga et al.

Internews (2020), 29 pp.

"This Information Ecosystem Assessment includes the thoughts and opinions of 48 migrant community leaders and migrant workers in Thailand. The information was collected through a series of qualitative and quantitative techniques, using remote data collection methodologies to ensure the safety of par ... more

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Internews’ Strategic Approach to COVID-19

Internews (2020), 13 pp.

"The Internews approach to addressing COVID-19 is deeply rooted in our new strategy, which calls for building the five elements of a healthy information environment. These are: 1. Good, accurate, evidence-based information; 2. That everyone can access safely; 3. That consumers know how to critically ... more

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Vaccine Misinformation Management Field Guide: Guidance for Addressing a Global Infodemic and Fostering Demand for Immunization

Angus Thomson, Gary Finnegan

New York: UNICEF (2020), 61 pp.

"This guide should help practitioners to: develop an evidence-grounded understanding of misinformation in the context of vaccination, how it spreads and gets traction, what can be done to mitigate its impact; implement evidence-based approaches to address misinformation; develop a comprehensive and ... more

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Navigating the ‘infodemic’: How People in Six Countries Access and Rate News and Information About Coronavirus

Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Richard Fletcher, Nic Newman, J. Scott Brennen, Philip N. Howard

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2020), 34 pp.

"In this report, we use survey data collected in late March and early April 2020 to document and understand how people in six countries (Argentina, Germany, South Korea, Spain, the UK, and the US) accessed news and information about COVID-19 in the early stages of the global pandemic, how they rate ... more

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Key Considerations: Online Information, Mis- and Disinformation in the Context of COVID-19

Nadia Butler

Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform (SSHAP) (2020), 8 pp.

"This brief sets out practical considerations relating to flows of information, misinformation and disinformation though online media, particularly social media networks, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It details various types of online media, key players and influencers on social media, a ... more

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How to Improve Communication During COVID-19: A Practical Guide

Deborah Martínez Villarreal, Ana María Rojas Méndez, Carlos Scartascini

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) (2020), 24 pp.

"This document offers a practical guide on how to design behaviorally-informed communications and interventions that help contain the spread of Covid-19. How and with what resources should you communicate to overcome the deep behavioral biases that we all have and that are heightened in situations o ... more

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Comunicación en tiempos del COVID-19

Instituto para el Desarrollo Rural de Sudamérica (IPDRS); Acción Cultural Loyola (ACLO) (2020), 15 pp.

"En el caso de la población rural, prácticamente 70 % percibe que no tiene suficiente información, en el caso de la población urbana este porcentaje es menor a 50 %. Confrontando esta información con los medios y la disponibilidad, la explicación más razonable es que no se trata necesariament ... more

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COVID-19 y comunicación, una guía práctica para enfrentar la crisis

Luiz Artur Ferraretto, Fernando Morgado

Porto Alegre: Universidad Federal de Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Núcleo de Estudos do Rádio (2020), 61 pp.

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Guidance for Effective Local Communication Response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Communication for Development Network (2020), 17 pp.

"This guide aims to provide some support in planning and delivering effective communications on the local level. It is for us all – the small community organisations as well as the larger NGOs, faith-based leaders and groups as well as media actors, officials and a wide range of other people who i ... more

Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start - and Why They Don't Go Away Quick Overview

Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start - and Why They Don't Go Away
Quick Overview