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The Infodemic during the 2020 presidential campaign in the U.S.
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The Infodemic during the 2020 presidential campaign in the U.S.
Annotation
PII
S207054760011692-8-
DOI
10.18254/S207054760011692-8
Publication type
Article
Status
Published
Authors
Pavel Koshkin 
ORCID: 0000-0002-8327-9566
Occupation: Research Fellow
Affiliation: Institute for the U.S. and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Address: Russian Federation, Moscow
Edition
Issue 3
Abstract

The article raises the problem of the so-called infodemic and propaganda amidst the outbreak of coronavirus in the world and the U.S., specifically. The topic is relevant, at least because not only political experts and journalists discuss the problem, but also the World Health Organization’s officials, who describe the challenge as the informational pandemic / epidemic. According to them, disinformation and fake news spread much faster than coronavirus itself, which is dangerous for a separate country as well as for the entire global community. The author presents the problem in both current and historical contexts while paying attention to the examples fake news during Hispanic flu and plague outbreaks in 1918 and the XIV-XVII centuries respectively. Primarily, the article is about the impact of the pandemic on the U.S. presidential election. Specifically, the author deals with popular fakes and conspiracy theories, which are circulating in American media. Besides, the article presents the problem of U.S.-Russian informational confrontation in a wider perspective amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Keywords
fake news, propaganda, media, coronavirus, pandemic, Russian-American relations, U.S. election
Received
11.08.2020
Date of publication
25.09.2020
Number of purchasers
25
Views
2480
Readers community rating
0.0 (0 votes)
Previous versions
S207054760011692-8-1 Дата внесения правок в статью - 19.09.2020
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References

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