Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences, Lund University, Box 192, 221 00, Lund, Sweden.
Global Health. 2020 Jul 13;16(1):62. doi: 10.1186/s12992-020-00588-x.
In the first month of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Sweden took the same strategy as most other countries, working to "flatten the curve," by slowing transmission so that the healthcare system could cope with the disease. However, unlike most other countries, much of Sweden's implementation focused on voluntary and stepwise action, rather than legislation and compulsory measures, leading to considerable attention in the international media.Six main narratives emerged in the international media reporting on Sweden during the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) Life is normal in Sweden, (2) Sweden has a herd immunity strategy, (3) Sweden is not following expert advice, (4) Sweden is not following WHO recommendations (5) the Swedish approach is failing and (6) Swedes trust the government. While these narratives are partially grounded in reality, in some media outlets, the language and examples used to frame the story distorted the accuracy of the reporting.This debate examines the ways in which international media both constructs and represents a pandemic, and the implications for how researchers engage with news and social media. Cross-country comparison and the sharing of best practice are reliant on accurate information. The Swedish example underlines the importance of fact checking and source critique and the need for precision when presenting data and statistics. It also highlights limitations of using culture as an explanation for behavior, and the pitfalls of evaluating policy during a pandemic.
在 2020 年 COVID-19 大流行的第一个月，瑞典采取了与大多数其他国家相同的策略，通过减缓传播速度来“拉平曲线”，使医疗保健系统能够应对这种疾病。然而，与大多数其他国家不同的是，瑞典的大部分实施措施侧重于自愿和逐步采取行动，而不是立法和强制措施，这在国际媒体上引起了相当大的关注。在 COVID-19 大流行的第一个月，国际媒体对瑞典的报道中出现了六个主要的叙述：（1）瑞典的生活一切正常，（2）瑞典采取了群体免疫策略，（3）瑞典没有遵循专家建议，（4）瑞典没有遵循世卫组织的建议，（5）瑞典的做法失败了，（6）瑞典人信任政府。虽然这些叙述在一定程度上基于现实，但在一些媒体中，用于构建故事的语言和例子歪曲了报道的准确性。这场辩论探讨了国际媒体构建和呈现大流行的方式，以及研究人员如何参与新闻和社交媒体的方式。跨国比较和最佳实践的分享依赖于准确的信息。瑞典的例子强调了事实核查和来源批评的重要性，以及在呈现数据和统计数据时需要精确性。它还突出了将文化作为行为解释的局限性，以及在大流行期间评估政策的陷阱。
