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Pandemic news information uncertainty—News dynamics mirror differential response strategies to COVID-19

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  • Kristoffer Nielbo
  • Kenneth Enevoldsen
  • Rebekah Baglini
  • Elena Fano
  • Andreas Roepstorff
  • Jianbo Gao

Abstract

National differences in uncertainty, inequality, and trust have been accentuated by COVID-19. There are indications that the pandemic has impacted societies characterized by high uncertainty, inequality, and low trust harder than societies characterized by low uncertainty, equality, and high trust. This study investigates differential response strategies to COVID-19 as reflected in news media of two otherwise similar low uncertainty societies: Denmark and Sweden. The comparison is made using a recent approach to information dynamics in unstructured data. The main findings are that the news dynamics generally mirror public-health policies, capture fundamental socio-cultural variables related to uncertainty and trust, and may provide a measure of societal uncertainty. The findings can provide insights into evolutionary trajectories of decision-making under high uncertainty and, from a methodological level, be used to develop a media-based index of uncertainty and trust.

Suggested Citation

  • Kristoffer Nielbo & Kenneth Enevoldsen & Rebekah Baglini & Elena Fano & Andreas Roepstorff & Jianbo Gao, 2023. "Pandemic news information uncertainty—News dynamics mirror differential response strategies to COVID-19," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(1), pages 1-16, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0278098
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278098
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. David J. Newman & Sharon Block, 2006. "Probabilistic topic decomposition of an eighteenth‐century American newspaper," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 57(6), pages 753-767, April.
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