[Yes and No] Infodemic and the New Role of the Media

Jang Jaewon, Dean of Graduate School of Media and Communication and Graduate School of International Information Security at Dongguk University

On the 19th, when the government expanded the special entry procedures to all incoming travelers worldwide to prevent the influx of COVID-19, passengers arriving on a passenger flight from Frankfurt, Germany, were undergoing the special entry procedures at Terminal 1 of Incheon International Airport. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

There is an infectious disease that brings as much fear as the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). It is called an "infodemic" in English. This refers to the phenomenon where "false information" spreads like an infectious disease. False information and rumors actually spread even faster. As depicted in writer Kim Yeonsu's novel "If Waves Were the Sea" and film director Park Chan-wook's movie "Oldboy," the unintended misunderstandings and rumors that spread rapidly leave painful scars on individuals and society. A similar situation can be found in American writer Philip Roth's novel "The Human Stain."

We live in the era of digital transformation. Biased and distorted information overflows across the internet. Among the overflowing information, it is necessary to distinguish the wheat from the chaff, but it is not easy. It is problematic not only to clearly distinguish which information is true or false, but also to first consider and question whether the source of the information can be trusted regardless of its authenticity. Trust is generated from the belief in the source of information. In an era where everyone claims to be an expert and insists that their words are the truth, the important value that citizens find difficult to obtain as much as the overflowing amount of information is social trust. Social trust is the belief among people who make up society. Sociologist Robert Putnam argues that accumulating social capital in contemporary times is important, and the core of that social capital is social trust.

Some argue that the media should take the lead. Traditional media has been so focused on professionalism that it has neglected communication with citizens. The media considers itself the best, closes its ears, and demands that people believe its words. As the world changes, the space for such media is gradually shrinking. There are no longer citizens who obediently follow the media's words based on the authority of past rulers. Moreover, the monopoly of information and interpretive power held by traditional media has disappeared, so there are not many citizens who believe the media's words (news) as they are. Now, in a transparent and open information society, all citizens may be experts who have the ability to efficiently extract information and effectively integrate and analyze it.

We live in a post-truth era. This term was first used by Steve Tesich in 1992. He used this word, translated as 탈진실 (post-truth), to describe political debates. Since then, scholars have used it to define the overall environment of society. Some scholars argue that we live in a post-truth society. According to them, today's society is characterized by, first, emotions and personal beliefs being more important than facts; second, the truth of stories no longer matters; third, distrust of authority; and finally, appealing to negative emotions such as fear and anxiety.

We live in a digital transformation era of lost trust or a post-truth era where belief has become more important than truth amid the flood of information. The costs that citizens must pay by losing social trust are fatigue, fear, and conflict. What should the media do to reduce these costs? The media must find its role anew.

The media must put down the heavy burden it has carried on its shoulders. The media is not the best. It must open its ears and humbly listen to information and even rumors. The media must dismantle what it has learned so far and acquire new things in a changing environment. It must dismantle the principles of infallibility, closed-mindedness, authoritarianism of experts, self-confirmation bias of homogeneous groups, and the logic of control and objectivity. It must discard these and learn new things. And the media itself must ask what citizens want from the media.