Factual divergences in Dutch television news: comparisons between AIDS/HIV, SARS and COVID-19 news reportings
July 07, 2020One of the defining features of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands has been the early ambiguity of government-issued prevention guidelines. While trust in government measures has arguably risen, the early days of the pandemic were marked by confusion on several “facts” related to the virus: whether people without symptoms and children can or cannot contaminate others; whether cyclists should keep a distance from each other; whether stopping handshakes was a prevention method sufficient to contain such a reputedly contagious virus; and so on.