Science Journalism & the Pandemic
March 3, 2021
Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to the president, stressed that knowledgeable reporting allows people to "self-correct" when they are going down the "wrong path," as it gives readers a new way of seeing the truth. He was joined by Dr. Atul Gawande and Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal for a Brandeis virtual discussion in March moderated by Professor Neil Swidey, director of the journalism program. Dr. Gawande, surgeon at Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard University professor and staff writer for The New Yorker, spoke about all the good science journalism has done during the pandemic but said he regretted that the field had been largely "impotent" in stopping the spread of misinformation and disinformation. He shared with the audience a multi-part test for how news consumers can detect pseudoscience. Dr. Rosenthal, editor-in-chief of Kaiser Health News and a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, described the dangers to the pandemic response (and our democracy) posed by news deserts — vast swaths of the country that now lack reputable local news outlets. She said Kaiser Health News is working to help bolster local news through its pandemic coverage partnerships. Dr. Fauci emotionally described the sting of seeing anti-science advocates use the government's shift in guidance on face masks as a way to discredit public guidance overall — he called it "one of the most painful things that I have gone through this past year." Fauci described the battle between science and anti-science this way: "It's kind of like a tug of war. Who's going to win that tug of war?" In addition to drawing a record audience, the webinar attracted a good deal of media coverage. For a sampling of media coverage, see The Boston Globe as well as Brandeis Now and The Justice.
- Anna Nappi