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Wednesday, 30 June 2021, 11:38 am
A
survey from the Classification Office offers a glimpse at
how pervasive misinformation is in New Zealand, and how
it’s affecting our beliefs.
From the nationally
representative survey of 2,300 Kiwis, one in two had at
least one belief based in misinformation, and one in five
had at least three such beliefs. These ranged from believing
scientists are lying about the safety of vaccines, to
believing 5G communications cause Covid-19.
The SMC
asked experts to comment on the survey.
Kate Hannah,
Research Fellow, Department of Physics, University of
Auckland; and project lead for The
Disinformation Project, Te Pūnaha Matatini,
COVID-19 was the biggest topic, including its origins and whether it even exists. US politics came second, followed by vaccinations, New Zealand politics, conspiracy theories and climate/environment issues. Over half of Kiwis said they ve come across misinformation in the last six months, and nearly a quarter finding it weekly.
About a quarter of New Zealanders believe the virus behind COVID-19 was created in a lab, despite no evidence this is the case, and a similar number think its dangers have been exaggerated, despite millions of deaths.
About 5 percent of Kiwis don t think vaccines work and/or are unsafe, despite hundreds of millions of doses of COVID-19 jabs being administered so far with few serious side effects reported. Eight percent said they believe the pandemic is being used to force people to get vaccinated, despite it not being compulsory for anyone (unless they want to work on the border).
Press Release – Science Media Centre A survey from the Classification Office offers a glimpse at how pervasive misinformation is in New Zealand, and how its affecting our beliefs. From the nationally representative survey of 2,300 Kiwis, one in two had at least one belief …
A survey from the Classification Office offers a glimpse at how pervasive misinformation is in New Zealand, and how it’s affecting our beliefs.
From the nationally representative survey of 2,300 Kiwis, one in two had at least one belief based in misinformation, and one in five had at least three such beliefs. These ranged from believing scientists are lying about the safety of vaccines, to believing 5G communications cause Covid-19.