The Infodemic - by Gabriele Cosentino (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The World Health Organization warned early on that Covid-19 would cause a global 'infodemic' - a surge of misleading information on the origin of the disease, its symptoms and potential cures. This book discusses the conspiracy theories, the disinformation campaigns and the propaganda tactics that emerged alongside the international health crisis related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on original research combining both qualitative and quantitative methods, Cosentino discusses the Covid-19 'infodemic' by drawing on studies of post-truth and disinformation, and framing the issue as a primarily geopolitical concept intersected by ideological tensions, cultural anxieties and by information warfare strategies and tactics among a plurality of factors. The comparative perspective of the book is supported by case studies from the MENA region as well as from other world regions affected by the pandemic and by its related disinformation. Cosentino demonstrates how disinformation warfare around Covid-19 is occurring at multiple levels within the social and political bodies of the United States, Russia, the European Union and China, which have all been dramatically impacted by the pandemic in economic and political terms"--

Book Synopsis

What caused the Covid-19 pandemic? Were the mitigation measures imposed by many governments - such as lockdowns and mask-wearing mandates - based on scientific evidence, or rather aimed at curtailing civil liberties and disrupting economic activities, under the secret maneuvering of a global cabal of politicians and financiers? And were Covid-19 vaccines effective in curbing the spread of the disease, or were they just a profitable scheme by big pharmaceutical companies?
These questions and speculations, some legitimate, some dubious, have been swirling around the globe through social media, alternative information outlets, instant messaging apps, and mainstream media since the beginning of the pandemic, feeding the 'infodemic' - an overwhelming surge of information, misinformation, rumours and conspiracy theories which continue to linger in public and private discourse.
With an original take on concepts and theories drawn from post-truth and disinformation studies, the book analyses the 'infodemic' through a series of global case studies. Framing the infodemic as a complex, multi-layered phenomenon with vast geopolitical implications, Gabriele Cosentino reveals the global competition for control in twenty-first century geopolitics between Western liberal democracies and non-Western autocracies, and above all between the United States and China.

Review Quotes

"The book offers a sweeping inquiry into many relevant informational short-circuits and omissions that contributed to the Covid-19 pandemic." --Cristian Vaccari, Loughborough University, UK

"Cosentino achieves something incredibly impressive with The Infodemic, succinctly and coherently distilling crucial elements of a complex information ecosystem that roiled the world for over two years." --Marc Owen Jones, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar

About the Author

Gabriele Cosentino is Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at The American University in Cairo, Egypt.