In her chapter Debunking Covid-19 Conspiracy Theories in the Digital Age: A Discourse Analysis on Spotify, Rosita Maglie introduces the reader to a different innovative digital environment, i.e. podcast aggregation sites like Spotify, which has become a leading platform for podcast creators and listeners. In the landscape of consumer health podcasting, the production, delivery and consumption of educational audio content has been prolific in recent years. More and more people are choosing to listen to educational podcast series to obtain health-related information in our ‘on-demand’ society. This means that listeners are all the more focused on the content delivered by podcast hosts. In their role of educational narrators, these new figures hold power and resonate with their audience, thus gaining a position of authority and high trust. As a result of this strong influence on listeners, the health-related content that podcasters produce and disseminate may be a source of serious concern. This key matter lies at the heart of Maglie’s chapter, which brings the issue of Covid-19 conspiracy theories into the spotlight. While these theories are thriving in the pandemic, educational podcasting discourse centred on such theories has not yet received the attention it deserves. Maglie’s chapter contributes to filling this void by exploring the case of The Vaccine Conversation, a widely accessed educational podcast aired on Spotify by health professionals. The valuable contribution made by the investigation can be sought in its offering relevant insights for the analysis of health mis/disinformation, as well as deepening the understanding of the infodemic caused by conspiracy theories. Methodologically, the study borrows the CONSPIR tool from the field of social and cognitive psychology to pinpoint distinctive traits of conspiratorial thinking in the podcasters’ language. It does so through a detailed examination of a corpus of two episodes on The Coronavirus Debate using a methodological combination of Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics. In exploring the fertile ground of discourse practices regarding Covid-19 conspiracy theories, the chapter sheds light on their detrimental societal effects and emphasises the need to foster healthy scepticism.
Debunking Covid-19 Conspiracy Theories in the Digital Age: A Discourse Analysis on Spotify
Rosita Maglie
2022-01-01
Abstract
In her chapter Debunking Covid-19 Conspiracy Theories in the Digital Age: A Discourse Analysis on Spotify, Rosita Maglie introduces the reader to a different innovative digital environment, i.e. podcast aggregation sites like Spotify, which has become a leading platform for podcast creators and listeners. In the landscape of consumer health podcasting, the production, delivery and consumption of educational audio content has been prolific in recent years. More and more people are choosing to listen to educational podcast series to obtain health-related information in our ‘on-demand’ society. This means that listeners are all the more focused on the content delivered by podcast hosts. In their role of educational narrators, these new figures hold power and resonate with their audience, thus gaining a position of authority and high trust. As a result of this strong influence on listeners, the health-related content that podcasters produce and disseminate may be a source of serious concern. This key matter lies at the heart of Maglie’s chapter, which brings the issue of Covid-19 conspiracy theories into the spotlight. While these theories are thriving in the pandemic, educational podcasting discourse centred on such theories has not yet received the attention it deserves. Maglie’s chapter contributes to filling this void by exploring the case of The Vaccine Conversation, a widely accessed educational podcast aired on Spotify by health professionals. The valuable contribution made by the investigation can be sought in its offering relevant insights for the analysis of health mis/disinformation, as well as deepening the understanding of the infodemic caused by conspiracy theories. Methodologically, the study borrows the CONSPIR tool from the field of social and cognitive psychology to pinpoint distinctive traits of conspiratorial thinking in the podcasters’ language. It does so through a detailed examination of a corpus of two episodes on The Coronavirus Debate using a methodological combination of Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics. In exploring the fertile ground of discourse practices regarding Covid-19 conspiracy theories, the chapter sheds light on their detrimental societal effects and emphasises the need to foster healthy scepticism.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
