Almost every minute, there are reports on the media outlets relating to the Covid-19 vaccine. With the discovery of Covid-19 vaccines, there appears to be hope of beating the pandemic. However, in the past few weeks, reports of eligible candidates, including health workers, have continued to swell. This has been escalated by anti-vaccine activists, who exploit the vulnerability of social media platforms to spread myths and propaganda that undermines the vaccination campaigns globally. CNN covered this story on their CNN health web page, calling out these myths for what there are; “a tactic to undermine vaccination attempt.” The same sty was featured on their YouTube channel focusing on the myths and their effect on the vaccination effort among health workers and some minority communities. Covid-19 vaccine myths have been covered using these two platforms to increase the reach far beyond the United States in an effort to quell the rumors before they result in a Vaccine information war.
List of Media Source Used
CNN.com: “ Anti-vaccine activists peddle theories that Covid-19 shots are deadly, undermining vaccination .” Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/25/health/anti-vaccine-theories-undermine-vaccination/index.html
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CNN news: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2yAAce2FZ4
In what way did Media Outlet #1 (CNN.COM) take advantage of the strengths of the medium?
CNN.com is the 3rd most popular and famous website in the world. CNN has an estimated average of 162 million unique visitors. This makes it accessible to billions of people globally. CNN.com leverages this scale to counter the swelling anti-vaccine opinions and deliver factual, authentic, and reliable information to their vast pool of audiences. This news report, for instance, dismissed connections between vaccinations and deaths sensationalized by bloggers and other newscasts to spread fear and incite hesitancy against the vaccine. Apart from leveraging its scale, CNN also leverages its credibility. CNN's long-standing quest for reporting the truth as it is has made it a trustworthy news outlet offering consistent and reliable news reports on the most critical subjects around the world. Next, unlike TV or radio reporting, web reporting allows readers to choose their content that they want and is of interest to them. Information can be updated round the clock on arising issues regarding vaccine hesitation. This information can be accessed from anywhere in the world, unlike other media outlets. CNN.com is an effective and efficient way to disseminate vaccine facts to the global audience. Hyperlinks (to other articles) and videos were attached to the article to increase the efficacy of delivery.
What could CNN.com have done more effectively within the medium?
To increase the credibility of the news source, CNN could attach reliable statistics of vaccination and progress of vaccinated patients or hyperlinks of post mortem findings of some covid-19 patients whose deaths are blamed on the vaccine. CNN should have further provided a list of all websites and channels spreading false information about the covid-19 vaccine.
In what way did Media Outlet #1 (CNN newsroom) take advantage of the strengths of the medium?
CNN YouTube channel has over 12.1 million subscribers across 200 countries in the world. This vast viewership provides an ideal platform to share the breaking news of covid-19 vaccine hesitance among healthcare workers and minority communities owing to increasingly growing myths surrounding the Covid-19 jab. Additionally, this is an ideal platform for engaging viewers in the comment section and finding out their thoughts about the vaccination issue and the apparent myths. This platform is also ideal for those with bibliophobia or reading anxiety.
What could CNN NEWS have done more effectively within the medium?
CNN should have attached links to credible vaccine outcome sources and other videos featuring interviews with doctors and vaccine developers explaining the vaccine's safety to all racial groups, genders, and ages. In other words, providing links to more information on vaccine safety across the world.
Would the audience have a better understanding of the story if they used both media?
Indeed, using both media sources provide an in-depth understanding to the audience. The YouTube channel only compliments what is published on CNN.com. the audience gets a platform to verify the truth of what was published in the article.
