The Negative Effects of False Balance in Media Coverage. Influencing the Public's Attitude Towards COVID-19 Vaccination

Lack of trust in science and official information, misinformation and conspiracy theories play an important role in increasing vaccine hesitancy and disseminating the solely scientific evidence is not enough to influence people's attitudes when faced with contradictory information. The media plays an important role in disseminating information about vaccination, but journalists can negatively influence the public's attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination when they inadequate balances the coverage of this topic. The false balance occurs when in case of a strong consensus among experts about a subject, based on solid scientific evidence, an equal importance is given to a minority of experts who argue otherwise, creating a false impression that there are some uncertainties about the subject or that the evidence is not strong enough.